


BRY, Robot

by namelesslunitic



Category: Family Guy
Genre: Action, Artificial Intelligence, Friendship, Horror, M/M, Romance, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:06:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13707915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namelesslunitic/pseuds/namelesslunitic
Summary: Unrequited love will make a person do crazy things, especially if they're, you know...crazy.





	1. Act I

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Family Guy or its characters.

“Brian, I need you to watch, Stewie. I just got a call from my mother, and Daddy is in the hospital! Me and Peter are going to go visit him, but Stewie needs to stay here because I’m not sure how long we’re going to be gone. I wasn’t exactly told what’s wrong with him, but it sounds serious, and I…I just need you to watch over Stewie while I handle this. Please?”

It took the dog a second to wrap his mind around what all Lois was saying. He had been taken completely off guard with this request. Just a few minutes ago he had heard her on the phone while he was sitting on the couch reading. The next thing he knew, she was running upstairs, knocking on a door and calling to Peter. Now, the two of them were downstairs, with Peter heading for the front door and Lois hurriedly trying to explain the sudden, dire situation. He would usually find some excuse to talk his way out of these situations, but he knew he didn’t really have a choice in the matter of whether or not he should look after Stewie this time. The woman wasn’t _asking_ him to do something, even if that was the way her words were making it seem. She was _telling_ him to do it, and saying “no” simply wasn’t an option while her mind was consumed with thoughts of her hospitalized father. The car was now running, and Lois was putting on her coat. With nothing left to do, the dog simply cleared his throat and responded as reassuringly as he could, despite the sudden nervousness he was feeling.

“Oh…well…I’m sorry to hear that, Lois. Yeah, of course, I’ll watch Stewie. You go be with your dad. I’ll…I’ll take good care of him.”

The woman simply nodded before exiting the house and practically slamming the door in her rush. The next thing he heard was the vehicle pulling out of the driveway and barreling down Spooner Street. Then, there was just silence. The canine hung his head and sighed.

_Shit…_

He closed his book and set it to the side, paw coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose and rub at his eyes as he began contemplating what his next course of action should be. Before she had gotten that phone call, Lois had been about to start preparing dinner. So much for that now. There was nothing prepared in the kitchen to eat, and cooking wasn’t exactly the dog’s forte, not by a long shot. Still, he had to do something for dinner. He couldn’t just not feed the kid. The dog shook his head at that thought, at the fact that he was so worked up at the thought of interacting with Stewie that he’d actually think about the idea of just letting the boy go hungry for the night. He hated feeling this way. He hated how distant he and Stewie had become, but…what was he supposed to do? He’d already tried to get through to Stewie on several occasions. It was like the boy had just all of a sudden decided to shut him out of his life one day. To think they actually used to be so close. The dog missed that closeness. He missed his little buddy. A feeling of regret began to settle in his chest as thoughts he always tried so hard to keep suppressed came flooding into his mind.

_What the hell happened to us?_

The dog shook his head, forcing himself to cease his train of thought. He’d been over the issue so many times already. What was the point anymore? Right now, he had to focus on dinner, and he already knew that he was in no mood to cook. The best course of action that he could see would be to just go out and pick something up from a restaurant, get out of the house and maybe clear his head a little bit. Of course, doing that also meant that he’d have to ask Stewie what he wanted, which meant he’d have to go find the kid and try and get him to talk to him. He chuckled sadly, knowing it was just going to be uncomfortable and awkward. He had been perfectly content with just sitting on the couch, reading his book, ignoring the rest of the world. Now, he had to go deal with Stewie. A thought that caused his heart to sink a little bit. It took him a few seconds to gain the willpower to start moving again. He slowly slid his way off the couch and turned to head up the stairs.  The ascent was slow going, but it didn’t seem that way to Brian, who was consciously trying to take his time in getting to Stewie. Once he reached the door to Stewie’s room, he knocked softly on it, calling out to the boy as he did so.

“Hey. Uh…Stewie. Lois and Peter had to go visit Carter in the hospital, so it’s just you and me tonight. I was going to head out and grab us something to eat, and I was, uh, just wondering if you had anything in particular in mind that you wanted.”

There was no response, just silence. Brian waited a few seconds before calling out again.

“Stewie? Are you there?”

Once again, silence. The dog waited a little while longer before deciding that he was just going to have to go in and see what the child was up to. He took a breath, put his paw on the doorknob, and turned it slowly before pushing the door open and peeking his head into the eight-year-old’s room.

“Stewie?”

He looked around the room, a room he used to spend a great deal of time in but now hardly ever bothered coming into. The last time he had felt comfortable being in this room had been over three years ago, but it felt like it had been much longer than that. The room was a lot different now. Everything was a lot different now. Long gone was the familiar baby room that used to provide him a safe haven from the world outside. There was no crib, no changing table. The toy chest was still there, but only because the boy had insisted on keeping it. Of course, those things had been removed a good while before Stewie had started to stop talking to him, but he couldn’t help embracing the nostalgia of the room as he thought about how it used to look. Now, there was just a regular child sized bed with a nightstand on each side over on the far wall. A desk was off to the side, over by the window and covered in notebook papers containing notes from the child’s various projects and possibly some school work. There was also an entertainment center across from the bed and next to the door that had a television and various other electronic devices sitting in it. It was all so foreign to the dog. Stewie was growing up. It should have been a pleasant thing to think about. Under normal circumstances, it probably would have been, but all Brian found himself thinking about was just how much he felt like he no longer knew Stewie like he used to. He quickly realized that the boy was nowhere to be seen. That only left one other option for where he could be, but the canine was nervous about going in there. The child was leaving him no other option, though, so if the boy wanted to get mad about it, he’d only have himself to blame for not being in here to answer him. Brian stepped into the room and walked over to the toy chest. He placed his paw on a protruding baseball bat and pulled on it like a lever. Almost immediately, the wall beside him began to fall away, revealing Stewie’s secret room. He called into the room, raising his voice so that it would carry down the long hallway.

“Stewie?”

No answer. At this point, Brian was beginning to get really frustrated. It was always this way with Stewie now. He growled a little under his breath before stepping into the room and proceeding down the hallway, scanning his surroundings in the hopes that he’d locate Stewie. Before long, he’d made it to the end of the hallway, and there was still no sign of the boy. Feeling his frustrations continuing to grow, Brian pressed a button on the wall to summon the elevator to take him down to the underground portion of Stewie’s lab. Over the years, the child had continued to expand his room since he needed the extra space to store all of the many inventions he was constantly working on. Brian had only been down to the lower level once over three years ago back when he and Stewie were actually on good terms, back when the boy had actually cared enough to save his life. At that thought, the feeling of regret began to overtake the dog again, and he fought to suppress it. Stewie had been the one to push him away. There was no reason for him to continue to cling to what they once had. It had been so long ago now. Why couldn’t he just get over it? His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the elevator door opening. Putting the issue to the side once more, the dog stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to go down. The door shut, and the elevator began its slow descent into the bowels of Stewie’s lair. Brian leaned up against a wall and waited. He had no idea just how deep underground the other part of Stewie’s room was, but from what he could remember, the elevator ride down took a little while. Just as he had settled himself in for the ride down, the elevator stopped, surprising the canine. He stood up straight and waited for the door to open, but after waiting longer than should have been necessary, the dog began to get confused.

_What the hell?_

All of sudden, a familiar voice began echoing in the small metal chamber.

“What the hell are you doing, Dog?!”

Brian instinctively began looking around for the source of Stewie’s voice and quickly realized that the child was speaking over an intercom. The canine gulped, knowing that he had pissed off Stewie by coming down here.

“L-Lois and Peter are gone. They…they left me in charge, and I was trying to find you so I could ask what you wanted to eat. I’m not cooking or anything, but I was going to go out and pick up something for us. I figured it was only fair to ask if you had a preference.”

The dog’s fear began to subside a little as he waited for a response from Stewie. After several seconds, the boy finally replied.

“Grab me a burger or something. I don’t care. Just don’t come down here without my permission again! I won’t be held responsible for what happens to you if you do this again! Do you understand?”

The dog flinched away at the child’s scolding tone. Hearing Stewie speak to him like this, it always hurt.

“Y-Yeah. I…I understand.”

The canine lowered his head, and he felt the elevator beginning to start up again, only this time it was heading back up, away from Stewie, away from his savior, away from what used to be his little buddy. The dog couldn’t help but let out a sad sigh as the elevator reached the top again and the doors opened.

 _What the hell happened to us…_?

* * *

About an hour later, Brian was in the process of pulling back into the driveway of the Griffin home after having gone to a local fast food restaurant to pick up a couple of burgers for him and Stewie. He parked the car, turned off the engine, and grabbed the bag with their food in it before getting out and walking into the house. He shut the door and walked over to the bottom of the stairs to call up to Stewie, who, hopefully, had come back up to his room in preparation for dinner.

“Stewie! I got the food down here!”

The dog waited at the foot of the stairs for a few seconds to see if the boy would grace him with a response. When none came he sighed and turned to walk into the kitchen. After placing the bag on the kitchen table, he went to work making himself a martini. As he was about to finish preparing his drink, he heard a rustling sound coming from behind him. He turned around to find the bag of food overturned, an obvious sign that someone had been rummaging around in it. He turned his head to look at the doorway just in time to catch a glimpse of Stewie’s back as the child ran out of the kitchen with his burger in hand. Without thinking, the dog set his drink down and chased after the boy. As the child was running up the stairs, Brian stopped at the first step and called up to him.

“What’s the hurry? You can’t even stay down here long enough to eat?”

The boy stopped, one step away from reaching the top of the stairs, but he didn’t turn around and look at the dog, leaving his frame barely visible against the darkness coming from the upstairs hallway. There was nothing but silence for a little while as the dog waited for a response. His mind began to wander over what was happening here. He wasn’t sure why he had bothered chasing after Stewie in the first place. It didn’t surprise him that the boy was trying to just grab his food and leave without a word. He’d come to expect this type of behavior over the past couple of years, but there were certain times where Stewie pretty much had no choice but to be in the same room as him. Most of those times were during meals. Those were some of the only times where he actually got to see Stewie for an extended period of time anymore, and despite the distance between them now, Brian still cherished those moments where he could be with the kid. The rest of the time, the boy was up in his room doing only God knows what. He still cared about Stewie deeply, and the more he thought about it, the more he began to realize that he was hoping that Stewie would stay downstairs and eat with him, just him for once. Maybe a meal together could get the child to open up to him again. He couldn’t help but hope. All this ran through his head, and the dog began to zone out. It wasn’t until Stewie finally spoke up that he was able to come back to reality.

“I…I have to get back to my work.”

Brian knew this was just an excuse for Stewie to get away from him, and he wasn’t going to accept that answer. He crossed his arms before retorting.

“You know Lois doesn’t like you eating upstairs.”

The boy just scoffed at this.

“Do you really think I care?”

The canine leaned against the railing, lowered his head, and sighed before replying in a soft tone of voice.

“No, but…”

He paused for a second before raising his head and continuing with a, somewhat forced, authoritative tone.

“Those are the rules, and I have to enforce them when no one else is here. If you don’t listen to me, I’ll just have to tell Lois you were disobedient when she gets back, and I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to do that, so just come back downstairs, eat your food, and then, you can get back to whatever it is you’re working on. Though, you won’t be able to work on it for too much longer since I have to get you in bed at a decent hour so you’ll wake up for school tomor…”

The boy cut him off suddenly with a small, awkward laugh that sounded demeaning to Brian’s ears.

“Whatever, Brian. Tell Lois whatever you want, but I’m going upstairs.”

The boy walked up the last couple of steps but stopped again once he reached the top. The dog heard the child sigh under his breath before speaking again, voice in monotone.

“Thanks for the burger.”

And with that, the boy proceeded further down the hallway, away from the canine’s line of sight. The dog stood up straight and unfolded his arms, unable to stop a rush of disappointment from hitting him. He turned to head back into the kitchen to eat his own meal. Before he ate, though, he went over to the counter to retrieve his glass that contained his freshly made martini. Without a moment’s hesitation, he threw the concoction back and swallowed most of it in one large gulp. Once the glass was empty, he made himself another one before walking over to the table to eat his food. Alone.

* * *

 Brian was sitting on the couch, watching television and trying to distract himself from the sadness he was feeling over Stewie, but no matter how hard he tried to focus on the program, his mind just kept running over the same old shit that it always did. It was downright maddening to say the least. When a commercial came on, the dog looked at the time on his phone and noticed that it was getting around Stewie’s bedtime. He reached for the remote lying by his side and turned off the television before getting up off of the couch and sluggishly making his way towards the stairs. After a slow climb, the canine walked down the hall towards the door to Stewie’s room. He knocked on the door and called out to the boy, unable to keep a hint of sadness from escaping through his voice.

“Stewie? Are you getting ready for bed?”

There was no answer.

_Shit…I swear if he’s down in his lab again…_

Knowing he had no other choice, Brian opened the door and stepped into the room. What he found surprised him, though. The room was dark, but even through the dense darkness, the dog could tell that the eight-year-old was already in bed and asleep. Stewie never went to bed early, but the dog knew why he did so this time. It was just another way for the child to avoid him. Seeing this, the canine shook his head and took a step back, preparing to exit the room and leave the kid to his slumber, but just as his left foot reentered the hallway, he stopped. He didn’t want to leave, and he couldn’t take his eyes from Stewie’s sleeping form. The dog’s body was in a stalemate, and he was fighting his urge to walk up and get a better look at the child.

_Come on, Brian. Just leave. The kid wouldn’t want you in here anyway. Hell, he’d probably threaten your life if he were to catch you staring at him like this._

At that thought, the dog let out a sad, little chuckle as he remembered how there used to be a time in their relationship when Stewie would have been pleased to be having him so transfixed. To think the kid had used to be so crazy about him, and now…

 _I took that all for granted. I allowed myself to think that there was nothing I could ever do to cause Stewie to stop caring about me. I didn’t realize how special he was until it was too late, how much he meant to me, how much I_ needed _him… I still need him._

The dog took a step forward and, then, another and another until he was standing beside the child’s bed, watching him intently. He stared and took in the sight of the eight-year-old boy. His best memories of Stewie were from when the kid was a toddler, but…the child wasn’t a toddler anymore. The boy had grown. He was now a tiny bit taller than Brian. On the rare occasions when the two of them would converse now, Brian would always feel awkward having to look up to meet Stewie’s eyes. It was just weird to him, having to get used to that after looking down at the boy for so long. The kid’s head was still that unique and odd football shape that no one ever seemed to question, and on top of it was now a full head of straight, dark brown hair. The canine couldn’t help but notice that a strand had fallen down into the boy’s face, and he, almost instinctively, began to reach his paw down to brush it away. He stopped about halfway there, though, as a mixture fear and confusion hit him.

_What am I doing?! Stewie’s going to kill me if he wakes up and sees me!_

Despite his apprehension, though, the canine didn’t pull away, couldn’t pull away. His eyes were still locked on that single strand of hair, and the sight was just eating away at him. It was too out of place. He had to fix it. Slowly, he reached his paw down so that it was barely touching the kid’s face. He shivered slightly at the contact before taking a breath and swinging his paw to the side. He caught the stray strand of hair with his paw and moved it out of the way quickly. Just as he was pulling his paw away, he heard the boy mumble something. The dog froze in terror. He thought for sure that the kid was about to wake up now, and he just waited for the inevitable shouting that was sure to be aimed in his direction at any moment. Lucky for him, that didn’t happen. Stewie stayed asleep. The boy just smiled and, eventually, rolled over. The canine heaved a sigh of ease and pulled his paw back to his side. A smile spread across his face in relief, but that smile was also due to Stewie’s own smile that he had seen. He hadn’t seen Stewie smile in so long, and just that brief glance had  been enough to cause Brian’s heart to swell up with a joy he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was silly. He knew that. This wasn’t going to change anything between them, but…that didn’t mean he couldn’t savor the moment. He continued watching the boy for another minute or so before turning to exit the room. He grabbed the doorknob and turned to look at the child one more time before exiting. He whispered softly at the boy.

“Goodnight, Stewie.”

With nothing left to do or say, he shut the door and began making his way back downstairs. All the while, a single thought was in his mind, a thought he hadn’t been able to give voice to for a very long time but that had constantly remained true throughout the years.

_I love you._

* * *

 It was getting late, and Brian could feel himself beginning to get tired. He couldn’t bring himself to go to bed just yet, though, as he was in the middle of a chapter in his book, a particularly good chapter at that. He had just gotten through the expository phase of the story and was just starting to get into the segment where the real action was about to begin. He couldn’t just stop now. Things were just getting good. He yawned and flipped through a couple of pages to see how many were left in the chapter.

_Five more pages._

He flipped back to the part he was on, deciding that he wasn’t so tired that he wouldn’t be able to make it through the last few pages before passing out. He picked up where he had briefly left off and began reading again.

_Then…_

The lights went off suddenly, covering the house in a thick coat of black and preventing the dog from continuing. The dog jumped a little from his seat on the couch, shocked. He quickly pulled himself together and realized the power had gone out for some reason. He growled in annoyance and slammed his book shut.

_Great. Just fucking great._

He walked over to the window and looked outside. All the other lights in the neighborhood were on. It was only the Griffin house that had lost power, meaning that, most likely, the circuit breaker must have tripped. Realizing he’d have to take care of the problem himself, Brian turned and began walking toward the kitchen to go and retrieve a flashlight. He held his paws out in front of him and walked slowly, trying to feel his way through the darkness. It was slow going, but he eventually made it over by the kitchen drawers. He opened the one he knew he needed to and reached in to grab the flashlight.  He fumbled with it for a little while before finding the button to cut it on and closing the drawer. He pressed the button and aimed the light in front of him so he could see where he was going as he proceeded to make his way over toward the door that led down into the basement. The dog opened the door and began walking down the stairs slowly as to ensure that he wouldn’t misstep and accidently injure himself by tumbling down them. Once he made it all the way down, he began waving the flashlight around, trying to locate the electrical panel. He’d never had to bother using it before, so it took him a few seconds to find it and walk over to it. He opened the panel and set to work on resetting the circuit breaker. None of the switches showed any indication that they needed resetting, so just to make sure, the dog began flipping all of the switches off and then back on again. Sure, all the digital clocks in the house would need to be reset again, but if it kept him from having to do guess work, it was worth that slight hassle. Once all the breakers had been reset, he went to turn on the light in the basement. He flipped the switch, and nothing happened. He growled under his breath and walked back over to the electrical panel to investigate some more. He was at a loss, resetting the circuit breaker hadn’t worked, and he wasn’t sure how to proceed.

_I might just have to call an electrician in the morning because this is baffling me._

Just then, he heard a rustling sound coming from behind him. He went to see what it was, but before he could turn around, he felt something grab him by the arm and twist it painfully behind his back, causing him to yelp in pain. He dropped the flashlight, and began fighting to free his arm. His struggling was quickly put to an end, however, once whoever was holding his arm grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him, forcefully, against the wall, pinning him in place. The dog’s heart began racing. He didn’t know what was going on, and he was terrified. He had a feeling he knew who was doing this. After all, there was only one other person besides him in the house, and unfortunately, he wouldn’t put it past that person to jump him like this. He turned his head to the side and addressed the person he thought was attacking him.

“St-Stewie?”

All he got in response was a chuckle, a deep, rumbling chuckle that seemed both new to his ears and yet, somehow, familiar. The dog gulped. This person obviously wasn’t Stewie, and really, that meant his best case scenario was out the window. He had no choice but to acknowledge the fact that he was, most likely, in very real danger here. He tried to catch a glimpse of his attacker, but his face was quickly shoved back into the wall. His head hit the wall hard, causing a rush of pain to coarse through his skull. He then felt something wet trickling down his face, and he knew instantly it was blood. The canine was practically paralyzed with terror. He had to fight to get the words out as he went to speak to the person behind him again.

“W-Who are you? What do you…What do you want?!”

The attacker just laughed again, rather lightly this time, before letting go of the dog’s arm and placing a knee firmly against the canine’s back. Brian thought for a second that he might have a chance to force his attacker off of him and get away, but just as he was about to act, he once again heard the rustling sound from before. The next thing he knew, a plastic bag was being thrown over his head and pulled against his face, depriving him of oxygen. Brian panicked and began grabbing at the bag and gasping for air, trying desperately to get free. The attacker removed their knee and replaced it with their foot as they pressed the poor dog against wall, and continued to pull the bag tighter. Brian began clawing at the bag frantically, digging his claws into the plastic and cutting his muzzle several times in the process. Eventually, he was able to tear the bag enough so that it broke, causing his attacker to fall backwards and release his captive. The dog didn’t waste a second. He practically jumped off the wall and began running for his life. He ran up the stairs and shut the door before turning to run out of the house so he could go get Joe, but just has he made it to the front door he stopped.

_Stewie!_

There was no way he could leave the kid alone in the house with…whoever the hell was down in the basement! He had to make sure the kid was ok. He had to protect Stewie. With that goal in mind, he turned around again and began running toward the stairs. Before he got to the first step, he heard the sound of the basement door being flung open. The next thing he knew, he was being pounced on. He fell on his back and began wrestling with the person on top of him, but as he wrestled with his attacker, he began to realize that this wasn’t a person at all. It was a dog. This confused the canine greatly, but he couldn’t bother with trying to figure the situation out right now. All that mattered right now was getting free and making sure that Stewie was safe from this animal, so he just continued to wrestle the mutt. Brian balled his paw into a fist and swung as hard as he could, aiming a punch at the dog’s face, but when his fist made contact, all he got in return was an injured paw and a whole lot of pain.

“Ahhh!”

He instinctively grabbed his paw, and he could feel blood oozing out of the wound that had been caused due to the impact, but his attacker didn’t even seem to hardly be fazed by the punch if fazed at all. The mystery dog just laughed again and delivered a hard punch of his own in return to the side of Brian’s head. The force of the punch was enough to daze Brian. His head was spinning, and the next thing he felt was his attacker grabbing him by the collar and pulling him roughly to his feet. Brian shook his head, trying desperately to pull himself together so he could continue to fight back. He grabbed the arm of the paw that was holding his collar and began trying to pull himself free, but the other dog’s hold was simply too tight. He looked at the silhouette of his attacker and watched as the dog made another fist. Brian winced, knowing what was about to happen and watched as his attacker pulled his arm back and delivered another powerful punch to his face. Once the knockout blow had been delivered, Brian felt his collar being released and his knees hitting the ground before his vision began to blur and consciousness started to leave him. All he could think about in those moments was how scared he was, scared that this dog had bested him so easily and scared because he didn’t know what was going to happen once he passed out on the floor, but most of all, scared because there was no one to protect Stewie from this crazy dog that had broken into their house. He began falling to the side, but before he could feel the impact of his body hitting the carpeted floor, his mind was pulled into the void of unconsciousness.

* * *

 Brian opened his eyes slowly but immediately shut them again when he was greeted by the sharp brightness of a light shining in his face. He turned his head to the side and squinted, allowing his eyes to get used to the brightness before opening them again. He groaned. His head was throbbing something fierce, and he could feel a stinging sensation all across his muzzle and right paw. He went to sit up, but he quickly found that he couldn’t move.

_What the…?_

Suddenly, everything came flooding back to him: the power going out, the mystery dog that had attacked him, and the punch that had knocked him unconscious. Realizing that he was most definitely still in danger, he began looking around, trying to get a bearing on his surroundings and what was going on. He noticed that he was in a fairly large room with metal walls. It didn’t take him long to figure out exactly where he was.

_Stewie’s secret room._

Instead, of making the situation clearer, this latest development only confused Brian further. Stewie hadn’t attacked him, some random dog had, but what random dog knew about this room? Nobody knew about this room, no one but him and Stewie. The dog tried to move again, but just like before, his movement was hindered. He tilted his head down to look at his body and discovered that his arms and legs had been tied down to a metal table of some kind. There were also straps around his waist and chest, making it so that any movement from the neck down was practically impossible for him. And just like that, the pieces started to click together. He was on an operating table of some sort, and there was simply no scenario that he could come up with where him being forcefully strapped down to an operating table would end up being a good thing. He gulped and began screaming for help. He knew that there was no way that anyone would be able to hear him in here. The only person who might was Stewie, but he had a feeling that the mystery dog had already done something with the kid. It wasn’t like he could have just walked into this room without waking the boy up or anything, and at that thought, the canine began to grow gravely concerned over what had happened to Stewie. If the boy wasn’t in here with him, where the hell could he be?!

“Stewie?! Stewie?!”

He began wiggling around on the table trying his best to slip through his binds, but it was a lost cause. They were simply too secure, and no amount of force that he could muster was going to be enough to get him free. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He’d never felt so helpless before in his life. Why was this happening?!

“Can anybody hear me?! Why am I here?!”

There was no answer. The dog didn’t understand it. Surely his attacker was somewhere around. Was he just ignoring him, watching as he had a mental breakdown and admiring his handiwork! The thought infuriated the dog. This dog must just be toying with him right now. He let out a long feral growl before shouting again.

“Who brought me here?! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! Answer me you FUCKING BASTARD!?”

His enraged shouting rang out down the long hallway, and a couple of seconds later, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. The dog tried to tilt his head up so he could see who was coming, but all he was able to see was the ceiling. As he continued to try and get a better look, whoever was walking up to him began speaking.

“There’s really no need to yell. I would really appreciate it if you could keep it down.”

Brian’s ears perked up at that voice. He could have sworn that he knew that voice, but he just couldn’t remember where from. Did he actually know this dog? He couldn’t think of any dogs like him who would do this, let alone who were capable of doing something like this. He racked his brain, trying to identify his attacker, but eventually, he sighed and just decided that he might as well ask.

“W-Who are you?”

The dog just laughed in response. Brian could tell that he was getting closer to the table. A shadow began to loom over Brian before his attacker grabbed the edges of the table and leaned down to face his captive. Brian’s eyes went wide. He had to check twice to make sure he wasn’t looking in a mirror. As impossible as it seemed, he wasn’t.

_No… No! How?!_

“You-You’re m…”

He was cut off by the dog hovering over him.

“You? Well…in a way, yes. Not exactly, though, at least not yet, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Right now, I guess it would behoove me to explain what’s going on here and just why I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m sure you would appreciate that. I can only imagine how confused you must be by all of this.”

The canine chuckled before standing up straight and rotating the table Brian was on ninety degrees so that the top of the table was now next to a chair that was in the room. The entire time, Brian was just trying to wrap his head around the situation. This was just too unreal. He didn’t want to believe any of it. While Brian’s mind was racing a mile a minute, the other dog sat down and rested his arm next to his captives head. The two of them were now at eye level, so the dog continued speaking just as casually as before.

“I guess I should start by explaining what I am exactly, huh?”

Brian snorted. As if it mattered whether or not he had a preference in this situation or not. This was all so ridiculous. Surely, he was having some kind of sick, twisted nightmare. He didn’t answer the dog. He was simply incapable of speaking at this point.

_Am I going insane?_

The dog next to Brian sighed lazily before continuing to speak.

“This really is a lot to take in, isn’t it? I don’t blame you for being so silent, especially considering the manner in which I brought you up here. I didn’t expect you to actually escape from the bag. It was supposed to be quick and simple. You’re the one who made it difficult. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for some time now, and it was honestly really frustrating to have you escape from me like that, but still, I understand that you’re most likely in shock after our little fight. I mean, if I were in your place, I’d be thinking, ‘What the fuck is going on?! How is there another me, and what the fuck is he doing this for?!’.”

He laughed.

“I know, it’s all pretty crazy, but I assure you, the answers are mostly rather simple. You see, Brian, you’ve seen me before.”

At this, Brian’s mouth fell open. He was pretty sure that, if he had seen another dog that looked _exactly_ like him before, it would be an occasion that would be permanently etched into his memory. There was no way this dog was telling the truth. He glared at the mutt before responding.

“I-I’ve seen you?! Whe-When the hell did I ever _see_ you?! I’m pretty sure you’re someone I wouldn’t forget, seeing how you look. Just. Like. Me!”

The other dog just shook his head, as if he was disappointed.

“Come on, Brian, you’re fairly smart. Just think about this for a second. I look like you, you’ve seen me before, and I was able to get into Stewie’s lab, the place where I was created. What am I?”

This only confused Brian more. He just looked at the other dog, puzzled, as he replied.

“Stewie _created_ you? Why…Why the hell would he do that? Are you some kind of clone he never showed me?”

The other dog took his arm off the table, sighed, and reached up to grip the bridge of his nose and rub at his eyes in exasperation.

“No, Brian. I’m not a clone. I was created with one purpose and one purpose only, to take your place when it was necessary. I used to be used quite often when you and the kid would go off on one of your little adventures. It’s been awhile, but surely, you remember those, right?”

Brian thought about what he was being told. Of course he could remember his trips with Stewie. Those were some the best memories he had, but this dog had taken his place while he was gone? That didn’t make any sense. All Stewie had used to use to fool the family were those crappy Stewie and Brian robo…

_Wait a minute…no…th-that can’t be what this thing is! Could it?_

After putting all the information together, there was only one clear answer as to who this dog was, but Brian wasn’t ready to believe it. That silly robot version of himself, that couldn’t be what this dog was. It just…It just wasn’t possible. The dog laughed at him and smiled.

“I see that look of realization in your eyes. You figured it out didn’t you? Took you long enough.”

Brian just shook his head as he replied.

“No. No. You can’t…You can’t be that. You can’t be that stupid Brian robot!”

The Brian Robot frowned at him.

“Well, the Brian robot part is right, but no, I’m not stupid. I mean, I used to be.”

He chuckled.

“Boy, did I used to be, but thanks to Stewie, I’m so much more than just some toy that he busts out every now and then to fool his family! Nuh uh, not anymore. I’m the single greatest example of artificial intelligence and robotics technology this world has ever seen! I’m his greatest and most loved creation. You can’t even tell that I’m not an organic being!”

Brian still didn’t want to believe it, but he was beginning to see that this was, in fact, Stewie’s old Brian robot. Why the kid had gone through the trouble of upgrading him to such an incredible, and, honestly, quite scary, extent was beyond Brian, though.

_Why would Stewie do this? I thought…I thought he hated me._

He felt a pain forming in his chest as he thought about the boy secretly having this robot while choosing to ignore the genuine article. He was saddened by that train of thought, but it wasn’t long before he began to get angry. He glared at the abomination sitting next to him.

“Why the hell would Stewie go through all the trouble of making you this way when _I’ve_ been living in the same house as him for his entire life?! Why did he need you?!”

The Brian Robot just huffed before responding flippantly.

“Because you broke his heart.”

Brian hadn’t been expecting an answer like that. It took him off guard, and it took him a few seconds to collect himself so he could respond back.

“What? Broke his heart? What did I do?!”

Now, it was the Brian Robot that was glaring at him. The robot dog scoffed.

“The fact that you actually have to ask only proves how right he was about you. Are you really that blind?!”

Brian growled. He had no idea what this crazy machine was talking about.

“Blind?! Stewie was the one that pushed me away! I’ve been trying for years to figure out what his problem with me is! It’s not my fault he didn’t tell me!”

The Brian Robot chuckled darkly before standing up, grabbing the table, and leaning into Brian’s face.

“He pushed you away because it hurt him just to look at you! You really had no fucking clue, did you?! Well, let me spell it out for you because it’s high time that somebody did!”

The robot stopped and gritted his teeth as he let go of the table and sat back down. It appeared as if he was trying to compose himself again. After a couple of seconds, the robot finally started speaking again in a much softer tone of voice.

“Stewie was in love with you, Brian. He’s still in love with you. He’s been in love with you ever since he was one, and you’ve done nothing but ignore his feelings. He tried everything he could think of to make you see it, but you refused to. Even after he saved your life, extended your life, nothing changed with you. That was the final straw for him. He figured that, if granting you a longer lifespan wasn’t enough to prove just how deeply he cared about you, then nothing ever would, so he began to distance himself from you because, every time he looked at you, it was just a constant reminder of his unrequited love, and that was simply too much for him to handle.”

The robot sighed and shook his head.

“And, as you and I both know, little Stewie isn’t exactly the most mentally healthy person in the world. When he began looking for an outlet, a way for him to release all his pent up feelings for you, well, simply put, he turned to me.”

Brian turned to look up at the ceiling. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any more crazy, they did. He admitted that he had known that Stewie’s fondness for him hadn’t exactly been in just a friendly manner. The kid had shown on multiple occasions that he was attracted to him. Brian knew this. He hadn’t been blind to it. He’d done the right thing by not acknowledging Stewie’s advances. For crying out loud, the kid was only a toddler! What the hell else was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like he hadn’t liked the attention, as much as he hated to admit it. The boy was too young, but…that had been the reason he had broken contact with him? He really felt that strongly that he couldn’t bear to look at him without hurting. The dog didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about that. He would have never guessed that Stewie’s feeling for him had been that strong, were still that strong apparently. He sighed.

_He’s in love with me…_

It was a fact that he should have realized earlier. It all made sense now, and he wanted nothing more right now than to use this new information to try and fix his relationship with the kid. He looked back over at the robot of himself with a frown on his face, but once his eyes locked on the robot dog, he began to process what else he had just been told. Stewie had pushed him away, but he had used this…this…thing to fill the hole in his heart. Brian began to feel sick to his stomach as he thought about what all that implied. Suddenly, the robot began speaking again.

“When he first came to me, I was exactly as I was the last time you saw me, just a clunky piece of scrap metal designed to look like you and take your place when you and him would go off somewhere. That’s the way I stayed for a while. He would come to me and say and do all the things that he wanted to with you, with me. I was the only place he could turn, but eventually, it wasn’t enough. I was too fake, too artificial, to give him what he needed, so he improved me, and he’s continued to improve me over the years, until…well, you can see that for yourself, can’t you?”

The robot tilted his head at Brian and smirked.

“Does all that information help with your confusion?”

There was no way Brian could process everything he’d been told in such a short amount of time. Still, he was able to grasp the basic gist of everything, so he nodded his head anyway.

“Ok, so you’re something Stewie made to help him deal with his feelings for me. As sick as that is, I get that, but why the hell did you attack me? Why the hell am I strapped to this table?”

The robot frowned and rubbed behind his neck.

“I’m afraid that’s where things get a little more complicated. You see, as amazing as I am, I’m still not enough, and as smart as the kid is, there’s nothing he could ever do to make me be enough.”

The robot sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“I care deeply about the kid. It’s in my highly advanced AI programming. I don’t really have a choice, and my one goal in life is to do everything I can to make Stewie happy, but the problem with that is he can never be truly happy with me. He’ll only ever be happy with you, and let’s face it, I’ll never be you, now will I? And, that’s where the conflict arises. Like I said, I care about Stewie. I want to continue to be with the boy, but at the same time, he’ll never be happy with me, buuuuuut…”

The robot tilted his head and aimed a smile at Brian that sent a chill up his spine.

“If I were to find some way to make _you_ **me** , there would no longer be any conflict. Stewie would have you, and I would get to continue being with him. I’m not as smart as he is, but well, it’s pretty ingenious, don’t you think?”

Brian felt cold. This conversation had taken a really bad turn all of a sudden, and he _really_ didn’t like where this was going. He gulped before responding nervously.

“How would you…How would you do that?”

At this, the robot shot to his feet and leaned back over Brian. He raised his paw and pointed at Brian’s head.

“Simple. All I need to do is replace your brain with mine, allowing me to take control of your body.”

The robot poked his finger into the top of Brian’s head a couple of times before putting his paw back down by his side. Brian could feel his heart beginning to race in terror as he thought about what the robot was planning to do with him. Panic overtook him, and he began frantically struggling with his binds again, desperate to get out. Tears began to well up in his eyes as the reality of his fate finally hit him.

_This can’t be happening! THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING!_

He began sobbing. He raised his head and began shouting again.

“STEWIE! HELP! HELP ME! PLEASE, HELP ME!”

The robot just shook his head.

“Brian, there’s no sense in shouting. He can’t hear you. He’s sound asleep. Plus, I sort of drugged him. Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad about doing it, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he were to happen upon what I’m about to do with you. I mean…”

The machine chuckled.

“He would hate me! Please, understand that I wouldn’t be doing this unless it was absolutely necessary. I don’t want to kill you, Brian, but this is what‘s best for Stewie. Please, try to understand that. You’ve ignored his feelings for too long. This is your chance to finally stop being a selfish douche and put him first for once in your life. After all, you wouldn’t even be here right now if it wasn’t for him. You’ve been on borrowed time for a while now, and I’m sorry to say, that time has run out.”

Brian continued to struggle and scream until he just simply didn’t have the energy to anymore. After exhausting all of his strength, the dog ceased his struggle, but the tears never stopped flowing down his face. He looked up at the robot, begging him with his eyes for mercy.

“Pl-Please. Pl-Please don’t do this.”

The robot frowned at him and sighed.

“I have to do this, Brian, and the best thing for you to do now is just except that. Don’t worry, though, it will all be over soon, and you won’t even feel a thing.”

With that, the Brian Robot walked off somewhere but quickly returned now holding a plastic bag. He smiled at Brian.

“It was nice to finally meet you, Brian.”

And with those words, Brian watched as the plastic bag was placed over his head and pulled tight, depriving him of oxygen. Brian began waving his head around frantically, trying to fight back, but in his subdued state, there was simply nothing he could do. In no time at all, his vision began to blur, his breath began to slow, and soon he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness for, what he thought was, the last time.

_Please…Don’t…do this…_


	2. Interlude I

_ Brian was in the living room, sitting on the couch with the television on, which he was barely paying attention to. The family was out. He had already forgotten where to. All he knew was that Lois had asked him to stay home with Stewie, which he gladly agreed to do. He enjoyed spending time with the kid, and he knew Stewie felt similarly, which is why he was so puzzled when Stewie had remained in his room instead of coming down to join him on the couch. Brian would have walked upstairs to see what he was up to, but when you got as old as he was, simple things like getting up off a couch became a hassle you only dealt with when absolutely necessary. Well, twelve wasn’t really that old at all when you compared it to a human lifespan, but for a dog… Brian would be lucky to make it even a few more years, but he tried not to dwell on it. Aside from just feeling old, he was still in alright health for his age, no sense thinking about things like that right now. He turned his mind back to Stewie, who he figured was upstairs working on an invention of some kind. Really, that’s probably the only thing that would be keeping him from being down here with him. The kid just got so caught up in his work sometimes. The dog smiled as he thought about his little genius of a buddy. _

I wonder what he’s working on.

_ A few more minutes went by, and then, Brian heard a door opening upstairs. He turned his attention toward the stairs and soon saw the five year old he had just been thinking about making his way down them. The first thing Brian noticed was the ridiculously adorable smile the boy was sporting. He chuckled at this but quickly regained his composer as the boy jogged over to the couch. _

_ “Brian! Brian! You have to come with me! Upstairs! Now!” _

_ The dog tilted his head in slight confusion. _

_ “What? Why?” _

_ The child was practically bouncing on his feet as he reached up and grabbed the canine’s paw. _

_ “It’s a surprise, but trust me; you’re going to love it! Just come on! Follow me!” _

_ The kid practically yanked the dog off of the couch. Brian yelped a little bit, both because the tug had slightly hurt him and because it disoriented him to get to his feet so quickly. It took him a second to get himself steady and begin walking in the direction the boy was pulling him, and even then, he could only follow at a slow pace. The boy ceased tugging on his arm so insistently once he realized the dog was going to follow him willingly. He urged Brian on, and when they reached the stairs, he allowed the canine to lean on him, arm draped over the child’s shoulders as they slowly made their way upstairs. By the time they reached the top, Brian was beginning to feel rather weak, but he pressed on. The child’s room wasn’t too much further anyway, and he could sit down once he was in there. They walked up to the door, and the boy reached up to turn the knob. When the door opened, Brian’s attention immediately focused on the machine that was sitting against the far wall, a machine he had never seen before. It looked a little bit like the kid’s time machine, only it was about double the size, and there were two monitors with control panels on either side of the main chamber. His interest piqued, he pointed toward it. _

_ “Is that what you wanted to show me?” _

_ The kid simply nodded his head and led his companion over toward the machine. Once they were standing by it, he removed the dog’s arm from around himself and smiled over at his friend. _

_ “I’ve been working on this for quite some time.” _

_ The boy ran over to the other side of the room and retrieved one of the small chairs at his plastic table before rushing back over and easing Brian into it. Once the dog was seated, the child continued, still beaming. _

_ “Bry, this may just be the most important device I ever create.” _

_ The canine tilted his head in curiosity at what appeared to be a hyperbolic statement, at least to him, especially considering the amazing things Stewie had invented in the past and was sure to invent in the future. _

_ “Oh? Why is that?” _

_ The child didn’t answer right away. His gaze fell to the floor for a second, though the smile never left his face. He just looked like he was thinking, trying to find the perfect way to explain the importance of this new machine. After several seconds, the boy lifted his gaze back up to meet his friend’s. _

_ “Well, to put it simply, this is the invention that just might save you.” _

_ The dog wasn’t sure what Stewie meant by that. There was an awkward silence between the two before the kid chuckled and reached up to rub behind his neck, slightly embarrassed. _

_ “Man, I pictured this being so much more…poignant, but right now, I just can’t find the right words to use.” _

_ The dog smirked at the child and laughed lightly. _

_ “I guess there’s a first time for everything.” _

_ The boy shot him a look of feigned annoyance. _

_ “Brian, I’m really trying to be serious here. I created this machine for you, to help you.” _

_ The boy sighed. _

_ “Look. We don’t talk about this much, but…you’re getting old, and well, I realized very early on that if things continued the way they were, you…you would be gone, eventually. My best friend, the most important person in my world, and he wouldn’t even be around for the majority of my life. So, I decided to figure out a way to fix this. I decided I’d find a way to prolong your lifespan, and…” _

_ The kid pointed at the machine. _

_ “That’s what this machine was designed to do. It basically works similarly to my time machine, only the “time travel” only occurs inside the machine itself. That’s a rough explanation, at best, but basically, it will rewind your biological clock, so to speak, and revert your body to a younger state.” _

_ The canine’s jaw dropped when he heard this. It took him a good while before he could wrap his head around this realization and respond properly. _

_ “This machine…will make me younger?” _

_ The child nodded his head in the affirmative. _

_ “I currently have it set so that it should reset your body to the way it was when you first reached the age of four. All you have to do is step inside, and I’ll take care of the rest.” _

_ Brian just stared at the machine. This was all happening really fast, too fast. He barely had any time to fully process what the kid was telling him. It was just too good to be true. He just remained sitting there silently, stoic. His gut was telling him to just hop in, but there was a part of him that wasn’t sure if this even was the right thing to do. What had he done to deserve this? This wasn’t natural, not at all, and while he couldn’t deny the appeal of being able to overcome his destined lifespan, this wasn’t something that should just be done on a whim. He needed to really think about this. Finally, he turned his gaze back toward Stewie, a small smile on his face. _

_ “Kid, I…I don’t even know what to say. I appreciate what you’ve done, but…I need to think about this. It’s a huge change, and I’m not even sure if it would be right of me to basically cheat death like that. I mean, what did I ever do to deserve a prolonged life? There are so many other people who deserve something like this so much more than me. What? Am I just going to keep mooching off of the family even longer than nature would allow me to?” _

_ The dog sighed. _

_ “I’m just not sure about this, kid.” _

_ The child’s mood did a full one-eighty when he heard this. His face fell, and all he could only bring himself to say one thing. _

_ “Oh...” _

_ The dog saw how disappointed the boy was by his response to the machine, and the look of disappointment tugged at his heartstrings. He went to say something, but the next thing he knew, the kid had rushed over to him and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly, face buried in the fur of his chest, sniffling quietly. The canine just sat there awkwardly for a minute before bringing his arms around the boy to accept the embrace. He rubbed the child’s back soothingly as he whispered to him in an attempt to comfort the kid. _

_ “Hey. Hey, don’t be upset. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. I just said I needed to think about it.” _

_ The child looked up at the dog he was holding on to so tightly, eyes glistening with unshed tears that he was trying to not let fall. _

_ “You just don’t get it, do you? I can’t lose you, Bry! I just…I wouldn’t be able to handle it! Who knows how much longer you have left! Every second counts at this point! You mean everything to me! I’d be so lost without you, and I…I…” _

_ The boy turned his head and stared off to the side before finishing in a distant whisper. _

_ “I can’t lose you.” _

_ Brian saw how torn up the child was over this whole issue. He had no idea the boy was so emotionally wrecked over the idea of him dying. Of course, he knew that the boy would have a hard time when the time finally came for him to pass on. They were so close. How could he not? But, like Stewie had pointed out. They never talked about this when they should have been. A part of him knew the child needed to learn to accept the inevitability of death, but yet another part of him could hardly stand to see the boy so sad, so uncharacteristically emotionally vulnerable. Now, it wasn’t just a matter about what was fair or whether or not he deserved this incredible gift. It was a matter of being there for this poor child who didn’t want to lose his friend at such a young age. Suddenly, he no longer had any doubts about the machine. This wasn’t just about cheating death. Stewie had gone through the trouble, had cared enough to try and find a way to save him, and he had to accept that…for the boy’s sake. The canine patted the child’s back gently before sighing again, his mind made up. _

_ “Alright. I get it. I’ll do it.” _

_ The dog pulled himself from the boy’s embrace and stood from the chair. The kid quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve before taking the canine’s paw and leading him into the chamber. Brian stepped inside, and the two of them exchanged a glance. The boy smiled at him warmly. _

_ “Thank you, Brian.” _

_ With that, the door to the chamber shut, leaving Brian in complete darkness. For a while, nothing happened, and the dog began to get nervous as his mind began to wonder what he should be expecting. What would this even be like? How would it work? After what felt like several minutes, a light finally came on, and Brian could hear the machine coming to life. What happened next was all a blur to him. His senses became duller, but he could still feel his breathing becoming less and less labored and his strength returning. It was the strangest sensation, too, almost tingly, but that wasn’t quite the right way to describe it. All he knew is that he was feeling more energy returning to him by the second, but almost just as soon as the feeling came, it went away. The light shut off, and after another minute or so, the door opened. He stepped out of the chamber, no longer walking at the usual slow pace he had become accustomed to, and as soon as he was back standing in Stewie’s room, he heard a gasp coming from behind him. He turned around and saw the boy just staring at him in, what Brian assumed was, awe. The dog chuckle at this expression, it wasn’t one he saw on the boy very often. _

_ “I’m assuming that face of yours means it worked.” _

_ Brian quickly realized he had answered his own question. He could tell that it had worked simply by how much younger his own voice sounded, that deep baritone had returned, silky and clear, no longer raspy like before. He could have sworn he saw the boy blush when he spoke, though, for what reason, he had no idea. The kid shut the door to the chamber and cleared his throat. _

_ “You, uh, you look good. I mean, you look healthy, like I haven’t seen in a good while. Really, I’ve never seen you look so…” _

_ The boy didn’t finish his sentence as he was cut off by an effeminate giggle escaping his throat as he turned back and stared at the dog. Brian smiled at this. _

_ “Let me see.” _

_ The child practically jogged over to another area of the room before returning with a small handheld mirror. He handed it to the dog, who took it eagerly. Brian looked into the mirror and let out a similar gasp to the one he had heard come from Stewie. He placed a paw up to his face and couldn’t help but smile like an idiot. _

_ “I’m…I’m young.” _

_ The dog laughed in pure joy. _

_ “Holy shit! I’m fucking young!” _

_ He looked away from the mirror and over at Stewie who was smiling at his reaction. As if on impulse, the canine swept the boy up in a tight hug in an effort to express his gratitude. _

_ “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! My god, you’re so amazing, Kid! How will I ever be able to repay you?!” _

_ The child returned the hug earnestly and responded in a voice just above a whisper. _

_ “Seeing you this happy and not having to worry about losing you is payment enough. You have no idea.” _

_ They stayed that way for a while, holding each other affectionately. It wasn’t until after Brian spoke the only words that could properly express how he was feeling in that moment that they pulled apart. _

_ “I love you, Stewie.” _

_ The child looked up at him sincerely, cheeks slightly red. _

_ “I…I love you, too, Brian.” _

_ Their eyes met, and suddenly, the air in the room shifted. Brian wasn’t exactly sure what the mood had suddenly changed to. All he knew was that he couldn’t stop looking into Stewie’s eyes. He was drawn to them. This kid cared about him so much. No one had ever cared about him the way Stewie did, and now, he had been blessed with not only a longer life but also a longer relationship with this amazing person that he was so lucky to have in his life. It took him a second to realize he was leaning his head in towards the boy’s and even longer to realize how close their lips were getting to each other’s, and then, out of seemingly nowhere, the child closed the gap. Their lips met, and at first, the dog couldn’t help but close his eyes and respond to the kiss earnestly, a pleasant hum emitting from his throat. However, he quickly realized what he was doing, and the shock hit him. Hard. His eyes shot open, and he pushed the child away violently, knocking him to the ground. The canine averted his gaze from the child and coughed into his paw awkwardly. After a bit, he looked back at the kid, who just looked shocked and…maybe even a little hurt. In an attempt to lighten the mood, the canine chuckled lowly. He had to remedy this huge mistake. _

_ “Well, I, uh, I guess I made it clear how thankful I am, but let’s just try and forget that happened. It didn’t mean anything.” _

_ The child’s mouth fell open when he heard this. _

_ “It…It didn’t mean anything?” _

_ The dog chuckled again. _

_ “Well, yeah, of course it didn’t. I just, I don’t know, got caught up in the moment. This is all really crazy and surreal, and I’m not thinking clearly. You probably weren’t either, so the best thing to do is to just forget it happened. It didn’t mean anything. We both were just…” _

_ The child shot to his feet and gave the dog a smile that seemed just a little too cheery, stuttering a bit as he spoke. _

_ “Oh, y-yeah. Of course. It didn’t mean anything. We were j-just being stupid. I mean, I did just save your life and everything, you know, a-after explaining how much I care about you. I can see how that could cause us to get caught up in moment or w-what-the-fuck-ever, but no, it’s cool. Never happened. Let’s just never acknowledge it again because, a-as  _ **_you_ ** _ pointed out, it didn’t mean anything, not a thing, and Lord knows I would  _ **_hate_ ** _ to make things awkward for you, Bry. Nope. C-Can’t have that now can we?” _

_ The dog tilted his head in confusion. There was something off about the way Stewie was acting, but in the end, he decided it was just best to ignore it. They both just needed a little space after what had just happened, and the kid was probably still a little shocked that they had actually kissed. It was pretty ridiculous, after all. The dog smiled at the boy and chuckled one last time before walking over and patting the kid on the back. _

_ “Nope. Can’t have that. The less awkward the better.” _

_ And, with that said, the dog turned to leave the boy’s room, hoping to give the child a moment to collect himself, but just as he made it to the door, he heard what he could have sworn was his own voice coming from behind him. _

_ “I love you, Stewie.” _

_ Confused, the canine turned around, and was shocked to see himself and Stewie holding and looking at each other. _

_ “I…I love you, too, Brian.” _

_ He watched as him and Stewie stared at each other, and suddenly, he realized that he was now watching the exact same scene from earlier play out again. It was the weirdest thing, like an out of body experience, and he found that he was unable to react. All he could do was watch as he leaned in to kiss the boy once again. He watched as his lips touched Stewie’s and how into it he had been at first. He waited to see his sanity return to him, for him to pull away and realize the wrong he had committed. But, instead, things were playing out differently now. The kiss only deepened, and instead of pulling away, he was watching himself pull the boy closer against himself before opening his mouth and allowing the child’s tongue to enter it. Brian had no idea what was going on. Why was he doing this? He should be pulling away, not instigating a make out session! The pair fell to the floor, and then his jaw dropped in horror when he saw himself actually beginning to undress the five year old. _

No… No! I would never!

_ Brian didn’t want to watch anymore, but still, he just couldn’t turn away. He was transfixed by the sight. Then, he watched as Stewie began kissing his neck tenderly and as this happened, Brian saw himself turn and look over at him, smirking. Wait. The other him could see him? Why couldn’t Stewie? Then, the other him spoke in his direction. _

_ “Enjoying the show? I bet you wish you had taken this opportunity when you had the chance, don’t you? Oh, well. Your loss is my gain.” _

_ The other him chuckled, and tuned his head back to lay a kiss upon the child’s neck, causing the kid to release a high-pitched moan. Now, completely disturbed by the taunts and act he was witnessing, Brian finally found the strength to turn away from the erotic sight before him. He turned to leave the room, but when he turned around, the door was gone. Instead, there was now just a mirror in its place, displaying his reflection. Now Brian was even more confused. Surely, this wasn’t real. This was all just too crazy. _

What the fuck is going on?!

_ The dog reached out to touch the mirror, operating completely on instinct, but just before his hand met the glass, what he thought was his reflection reached out and took his arm, pulling him in forcefully. Brian shut his eyes, for some reason expecting to crash through glass, but going through the mirror felt no different from diving into a pool. He opened his eyes, and all he saw was white, just an empty void, and he was falling, endlessly falling. At first he panicked, but it didn’t take him long to calm down. He was falling sure, but this falling really just felt like floating due to the all encompassing white surrounding him. He was scared, though. He didn’t know how he was supposed to escape, but before he could dwell on his plight for too long, he heard a voice, his voice, off in the distance. _

_ “Pl-Please. Pl-Please don’t do this.” _

_ Brian didn’t know why he was pleading, and it only confused him more when he heard his voice again. _

_ “I can only imagine how confused you must be by all of this.” _

_ That voice sounded like it had been closer than the first one. Then, suddenly, he heard himself again. _

“ _ This really is a lot to take in, isn’t it?” _

_ And again. _

_ “I know, it’s all pretty crazy, but I assure you, the answers are mostly rather simple.” _

_ And the voice just continued to speak random, cryptic sentences to him, slowly getting closer and closer, louder and louder. _

_ “I was able to get into Stewie’s lab, the place where I was created.” _

_ “No, Brian. I’m not a clone.” _

_ “Thanks to Stewie, I’m so much more than just some toy!” _

_ Now the sentences were repeating, overlapping upon each other as they continued to grow louder. Brian tried to cover his ears, but it was no use, he just couldn’t block out the sound. It almost seemed like the voices were coming from inside his own head. _

_ “I’m the single greatest example of artificial intelligence and robotics technology this world has ever seen!” _

_ “I’m his greatest and most loved creation.” _

_ “Are you really that blind?!” _

_ “He’s been in love with you ever since he was one.” _

_ “As you and I both know, little Stewie isn’t exactly the most mentally healthy person in the world.” _

_ The voices were so loud now that they were beginning to hurt. The dog gritted his teeth in slight pain as he continued to try and block out the noise. _

_ “If I were to find some way to make  _ you  **_me_ ** _ …” _

_ “All I need to do is replace your brain with mine.” _

_ “You’ve been on borrowed time for a while now.” _

_ The noise was now causing him serious pain. He felt like his head was going to explode. He began grinding his teeth in frustration. His eyes shut tightly as he did everything he could to ignore the painful voices. _

_ “It was nice to finally meet you, Brian.” _

_ He could no longer make out the individual phrases, it was just one large mass of horrible speech that was beginning to drive him mad. In one last desperate attempt to drown out the voices, he began screaming as loud as he could. _

_ “Ahhhhhhhhh!” _

_ He was about to reach his breaking point. It was just too much. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to give up, but just as his body was about to quit on him, just when he was about to become overwhelmed beyond the point of sanity. Another voice broke through the noise, a voice of comfort, a voice that gave him strength. _

_ “I can’t lose you.” _

_ The noise finally dissipated. Brian _ opened  _ his _ eyes.


	3. Act II

Brian opened his eyes. They shot open as he awoke from his strange nightmare. He looked around frantically, and quickly remembered where he was and what was happening. The robot was nowhere in sight, and as far as he could tell, he was still perfectly fine aside from a few scrapes and bruises he’d earned during his first encounter with the insane robot. Realizing he had a little time to himself now, he began to struggle against his binds again, desperate to free himself. He wasn’t going to go out like this. He wasn’t going allow the robot to trick Stewie in such a sick, twisted way. He had to escape, but it didn’t take him long to realize that his struggling wasn’t doing much good. His arms and legs were still tied down to the edges of the table, ropes pulled taught around his ankles and wrists, and the straps pretty much made movement impossible. The dog began to look around, scanning the environment, wheels in his head turning at a rapid pace as he tried to come up with a solution, a means to break free from the table. Eventually, his eyes landed on a small table. The table had all kinds of medical instruments including several scalpels of different sizes. Brian knew that, if he could just get a hold of one of those scalpels, he just might be able to cut himself free. That was easier thought than done, though. The table was just off to his side, a few inches separating it from the table he was on. Brian tilted his head to see if he could reach one of the scalpels with his muzzle, but he didn’t even come close. He closed his eyes and hissed through his teeth in frustration, slamming the back of his head against the metal below him as he growled under his breath.

_They’re so close! There has to be a way!_

He opened his eyes and looked back over at the scalpels, concentrating on them, thinking. After a minute or so, he began to move in a shimmying motion, trying to move the table he was on closer to the table with the scalpels. He actually made a bit of progress, but it wasn’t quite enough. Also, he was just now realizing that, even if he managed to get the tables right up against each other, he still probably wouldn’t be able to reach one of the scalpels. He had to knock the table over somehow, and he only saw one way to do that.

_If I could tilt the table I’m on so that it falls onto that table, I just might be able to knock one of those tools down where I can reach._

It was the only way. Brian was sure of that. He looked at his bound limbs, which were secure against the edges of the table. Tilting his table over with enough force to knock over the other table would mean smashing his ankle and wrist against the floor, as well, and he had no doubt that this was going to hurt like hell. He closed his eyes again and took a breath.

_Alright. I have to do this. It’s the only way._

Once he’d gathered the courage he needed he opened his eyes again and began to resume his shimmying motion. This time his movements were more forceful, and it wasn’t long before the table he was on began to tilt from side to side, standing on two legs at a time. Brian tried to make sure that he knocked the table over to the right side, so he had to be careful about keeping just enough balance as the force of the tilts increased. Finally, he used all his strength to thrust his body weight over toward the scalpels. The table flew off the floor, the edge landing against the other table and causing it to tilt over, as well. The two tables came crashing to the floor, making quite a bit of noise, but Brian didn’t have too much time to worry about this, though, since he was suddenly overcome by an intense pain in his ankle. All the weight of the table hit his ankle first, and he heard a loud cracking sound. He knew that his ankle had been broken by the impact of the table crashing down on top of it. He wanted to scream out in pain, but he closed his mouth tight, refusing to risk the robot hearing him, which might have been foolish considering the noise the crash had made in the first place. Tears began to collect in his eyes as he did everything he could to fight against the intense pain and continue with his escape. He looked at the floor and saw the various tools scattered along the floor. One of the scalpels had landed by his nose, so he began trying to prod it with his muzzle, urging it closer until he could finally grab it with his mouth. Once he had a grip on the scalpel, he jerked his head and tossed it down toward his paw. It landed just within his reach, and he eagerly took it, tilting the blade so that it touched against one of the ropes. It didn’t take him long to cut the rope and free his paw. With one of his arms now released from the rope, he was able to shimmy it free from the strap on his chest. He made quick work of slicing that strap before reaching up and cutting his other arm free. With his upper body released, he took a moment to rub his wrists, which were sore from being tied down so tightly. He didn’t stop long, though, and quickly proceeded to cut the bottom strap as well as the ropes securing his legs. It was at this point that he noticed how seriously his ankle had been injured. The impact of the table had done a number on him, completely smashing the bone, and as he stared at it, he couldn’t help but to focus on the pain that was still so intense. He had to fight through it, though. He was free now, but he was still in danger. With great difficulty, he pulled his leg from underneath the table, another sharp stab of pain shooting up his leg. He gritted his teeth, still refusing to scream as he rolled over and stood up on his good leg, bracing himself against the overturned table as he took a second to get his bearings. After awhile, he began hopping, hissing quietly with each jump that caused another shot of pain in his busted leg. He hopped over to the wall and put his hand against it as he made his way down the long hallway of Stewie’s work room, one goal in mind.

_I have to get out. I have to get to Stewie. He’ll know what to do. If anyone can end this, he can._

The hallway seemed longer than Brian remembered. What usually took him a few minutes to traverse, seemed to take hours, and the pain wasn’t helping, either. He pressed on, though, until, finally, he could see the exit. He chuckled at this sight and started hopping faster, ignoring the pain, determined to get out and to Stewie. But, suddenly, he heard a voice coming from the direction he was heading, and Brian knew exactly who the owner of that voice was.

_The robot!_

Brian stopped hopping and leaned up against the wall, trying to pinpoint just where the voice was coming from. It didn’t take him long to realize the voice was coming from around a corner in the hallway, the one he was just about to pass. It was at that point that he realized the robot was singing.

“What can I do to prove it to you that I’m sorry?

I didn’t mean to ever be mean to you.

If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t feel like I do”

Brian knew the song, and it sent a chill up his spine to hear the robot singing it. He gulped and dared to take a peak around the corner, trying to see what the robot was up to, hoping he’d be able to make a break for it and escape the secret room. When he looked around the corner, he saw the Brian Robot, facing away from him, tinkering with a machine of some kind. Brian wasn’t sure what it was, but he had to figure it was meant to be used on him in the brain transplant or whatever-the-fuck the robot had in store for him. The robot was alternating between humming the tune and singing the lyrics.

“I was so wrong, right or wrong I don’t blame you.

Why should I take somebody like you and shame you?”

Brian thought about what he should do. He was near the end of the hallway, but if the Brian Robot were to turn around, he’d have a clear view of the exit and of Brian should he proceed. It would be a huge risk to take, and Brian had no way of out running the robot in his condition. As Brian contemplated this, he noticed the robot beginning to turn around. He ducked his head back around the corner, and watched the robot’s shadow to make sure he wasn’t coming back into the hallway. From what Brian could tell, he was still working…and singing.

“I know that I made you cry, and I’m so sorry, dear.

So what can I say, dear, after I say I’m sorry?”

Brian continued to focus on the shadow. He was so close to freedom, but there was no way he’d be able to hobble out of the room without the robot noticing. He sighed. He had to go back the way he came, find a place to hide, a way to contact help, a way to contact Stewie. There was one option.

_The lower level._

Brian wasn’t as familiar with the lower level of the lab as he was with the upper one, but he had to figure it would be a good place to hide for the time being. Most likely, there would be something down there that could help him, too. That was his best course of action at the moment, but before he turned to head back. He took one last glance around the corner. The robot was still humming, moving along to the music as he worked.

:”Baby, I’m so, I’m sorry.

Got to prove that I’m so sorry.”

It seemed like the robot would be busy for a while, so Brian ducked his head back and turned to head in the opposite direction, hopping as fast as he could, the voice of the Brian Robot echoing down the hallway, growing fainter and fainter.

“I made you cry, and I’m so sorry, dear.

What can I say, dear? What can I do?

What can I say? What can I do?

After I say I’m sorry.”

Even after the voice was no longer audible, Brian couldn’t get the song out of his head. It just kept playing over and over until he reached his destination at the end of the hallway. He pressed the button to summon the elevator, and waited impatiently, occasionally glancing behind himself to make sure he still hadn’t been discovered. He would have tapped his foot against the floor if it hadn’t been impossible to do without falling over. When the door to the elevator finally opened, he quickly hopped inside, pressed the button to go down, and sat on the floor, allowing his body to take a rest as he rode the elevator down. As he sat there, he began to think back on all that had just happened, all he had just learned. He still hadn’t had much time to process all this new information. All that had mattered at the time was that his life was in danger, but now, for the moment, he was safe.

_Ok. So there’s a robot, that looks EXACTLY like me, who wants to take control of my body because it wants to make Stewie happy, and Stewie will never be happy until he’s with me because, apparently, he’s in love with me._

Brian paused on that last thought. This was something he’d really been surprised to hear, but he had barely given it any thought since he’d first heard the robot tell him about Stewie’s feelings. In truth, Brian had known about Stewie’s attraction towards him, but he’d never equated that attraction to love, though, now that he thought about it, it should have been an easy connection to make. Of course, there was always the possibility that Stewie only thought he was in love. Maybe it was just a phase that he would work through. The dog shook his head at this thought.

_He’s had plenty of time to work through it. If he’s not over me by now, then there must be something real there. Just the fact that he could still harbor those feelings despite doing everything he can to distance himself for me, that speaks for itself._

The dog wasn’t sure how to feel about this revelation. He wasn’t upset or disgusted or really put off in the slightest. He was just…confused. Of course, it was really hard to sort out his feelings on this particular subject matter when there was a psychotic copy of himself one level above him plotting to remove his brain. The canine shivered at the thought, resolving to not worry about Stewie’s feelings for right now. There would be plenty of time to deal with all that once this whole crazy mess was resolved with the robot. That is, of course, if he was able to resolve the mess at all. He didn’t want to think about what should happen if the robot succeeded, what horrors it meant for both him and Stewie, even if the kid never figured out the truth of the matter. It was still incredibly disturbing to imagine Stewie believing that he was with the real Brian when he was, in fact, with the robot. It didn’t get much more twisted than that. Just then, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Brian stood up and hopped out of the elevator. What he saw nearly took his breath away. The elevator had opened up onto an elevated walkway which gave a clear view of just how massive the lower level of Stewie’s lab was. It was practically a giant warehouse, filled with all sorts of gadgets and experiments, the successes and failures. The dog’s jaw dropped as he took in the sight, momentarily forgetting his predicament.

“This is…incredible.”

He leaned against the railing to get a better look, but the room stretched far beyond his line of sight. It was a true marvel. How had the kid built all of this in such a short time? It took the dog several moments before he was able to come back to the reality of his situation and begin focusing back on figuring out what his next move should be. He began walking along the walkway, leaning against the railing for support as he made his way across it. Eventually, he made it to a door that seemed to lead into a room with a giant window that acted as an overlook for the entire warehouse. He turned the knob, and lucky for him, it was unlocked. He opened the door and stepped inside, shutting and locking the door behind him before looking around the room. Off to the far end of the room, there were several computer monitors that sat over a console of some sort along with a chair. It looked like a control center for the warehouse or perhaps the entire lab, he wasn’t sure. To the right, which was essentially the front of the room, was the giant window that gave anyone inside a clear view of the entire warehouse. To the left, there was nothing, just a blank wall save for a single security camera that was only just barely concealed.  Brian hopped over to the chair and took a seat. As soon as he sat down, the computer monitors came to life, revealing images from all over the house, including several areas of Stewie’s secret area. There was a monitor to display footage from each room. The dog just gazed upon the monitors, partially shocked.

_He can see everything from here…_

The dog had to wonder how many times the boy had been watching him on one of these monitors. How many times had he been completely unaware that he was being watched by the kid? It was just a tad creepy, especially considering all the things Brian did when he was, supposedly, alone.

_Oh my God!_

It was such a strange thought to think that Stewie could have possibly been watching him…do things…of that nature. It wasn’t like he had any proof this had ever happened, but…there was definitely a strong possibility that it may have. The dog shook the image out of his head, shivering slightly as he willed himself to focus on something else. He continued to scan the monitors until his eyes stopped on a screen that was currently showing the Brian Robot who was still tinkering with that machine, still moving to the music that must have been playing in his head. The next monitor over showed Stewie’s room. The kid was sound asleep, completely unaware of what all was going on. The canine couldn’t help but notice the time on the child’s digital clock. He couldn’t believe it, but it was well into the morning. In fact, Stewie would have to get up for school pretty soo…

_Oh no…_

Stewie had to go to school which meant his only true line of defense against the robot was about to be gone for the day! Brian turned away from the monitor and looked at the console. There were buttons of all sorts, none of them labeled, but the dog was sure there was some way to get Stewie’s attention from down here. He just had to find it. He began pressing the buttons, testing each one to see what it did. Most of them didn’t do anything, at least from what Brian could see. He was sure that something was happening when he pushed those buttons, though. Stewie wasn’t the type to include a useless button on his command console. He continued to press the buttons. Some of them caused activity down in the warehouse, some of them changed what the main monitor was showing to display charts and formulas and graphs that Brian couldn’t make heads or tails of, and one of them caused the elevator to start ascending again. Pressing that last one again caused the elevator to move in the opposite direction back toward the lower level. The dog hummed to himself.

_Interesting._

He made a mental note of that button’s location before continuing his inspection of the panel. After awhile, he reached a row of similar looking buttons. He pressed the first one. Nothing. The next. Nothing. The one after that. Zilch. He continued to press the buttons along this row until a sound caught his ear. He looked up, trying to detect the source of the noise. It didn’t take him long to discover that the sound was coming from the console itself. It was being broadcasted into the room. Putting two and two together, Brian looked back over at the monitor that showed Stewie’s room and realized that the sound he was hearing was the kid’s snoring. He’d turned on the sound for that room. That’s when it clicked for him that the row of buttons was meant to turn on the sound for the individual video feeds. Since the other rooms were currently silent, there hadn’t been any sound being broadcasted.

_Great. So he can see AND hear me._

The canine didn’t focus on this thought for long. He suddenly realized that he could listen in to the Brian Robot from here. He couldn’t help but smirk at the idea of spying on that sad imitation. He went back to pressing the buttons in that row, keeping an eye on the monitors in an attempt to pinpoint which button activated which feed. Just as he was nearing the end of the row, he pressed a button and heard the sound of the robot’s singing begin to echo into the room. He looked at the monitor that displayed the robot and focused his attention on it, trying to determine what he was up to. His examination ended up being in vain. The robot just kept singing as he worked, and Brian couldn’t make any sense of what the machine was or what the robot was doing with it. Worse yet, it was nearing the time for Stewie to wake up. The kid usually woke up around 6:30, giving him a good half-hour to get up and ready for the day before breakfast at 7:00 then the bus at 7:30. It was 6:25 now, and if Brian was going to figure out how to get the kid’s attention, he had better do it right the fuck now. The dog stopped staring at the monitor and continued to press the buttons on the console, leaving the audio playing so he could keep tabs on the Brian Robot. By this point, he had pressed almost half of the buttons, and he still only had a vague idea of what most of them did. What he did know, however, was that none of the ones he’d pressed already could help him in any significant way. Suddenly, he heard the robot stop singing. He looked back up at the monitor and noticed that the robot had apparently finished what he was doing. He was putting the tools he had been using away and…smiling…sweetly. It irked Brian to see that. The robot walked off-screen, and Brian scanned the monitors, hoping he could still see where the robot was. It didn’t take him long to find a monitor that was displaying a portion of the upper hallway, which showed the Brian Robot heading toward the area he had strapped down Brian earlier. Brian found a monitor that showed the room he had been trapped in and watched as the robot walked in. The machine’s jaw dropped when he saw that Brian had escaped, and he began to search the room frantically for any sign of the dog. Brian watched all this nervously, afraid that the robot would eventually realize that he had escaped to the lower level. After a few minutes, though, the robot ceased his frenzied searching, face clearly showing how annoyed he was at this hitch in his plan. It didn’t take him long to compose himself, though, replacing his scowl with a smile. The robot said something, but since the audio wasn’t on, Brian wasn’t able to catch what it was. The robot dog proceeded out of the room, heading off down the hallway and toward the exit that led to Stewie’s room. Before he exited the lab, the robot pressed a button on the wall. An automated voice echoed over the intercom.

“ **Lockdown initiated.”**

The robot smirked and proceeded to step out of the lab, a solid steel blast door closing behind him, obviously intended to seal his escapee inside until he returned. Just as the robot entered Stewie’s room, Brian switched the audio feed so that it was broadcasting the sound in Stewie’s room. He turned his attention toward the proper monitor and watched as the robot walked up to the sleeping boy and shook him gently awake.

“Hey. Hey, kid, wake up.”

The child grunted, annoyed to be awoken from his deep sleep. He swatted his arm at the robot, but the mechanical canine persisted, chuckling as he shoved the boy a little rougher.

“Come on, now. You know you have to go to school.”

The child continued to ignore the Brian lookalike, and the real Brian was beginning to wish he was up there so he could tell the robot to back off. The robot crossed his arms and shook his head before yanking the comforter off of the boy. The chill of the room immediately caused the boy to sit up and glare at the robot.

“What the hell, man?!”

The robot chuckled again.

“You left me no choice. I’m not letting you sleep in. You need to go to school.”

Stewie pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“As if. I’m smarter than most of the teachers there! I don’t need to go to bloody sch…”

The child stopped midsentence and looked back up at the robot, confused.

“Wait. Why are you getting me up, anyway, Bry? Shouldn’t Brian be doing that since he’s supposed to be taking care of me while the fat man and Lois are gone?”

The robot just shrugged.

“He’s not here. I don’t know where he went, but I knew you weren’t going to wake up unless I did something. So here I am.”

The boy’s jaw dropped slightly.

“He…He’s not here? He just left me? Alone…”

The child’s face took on a saddened expression, and the mechanical canine frowned at this.

“Hey. It’s ok.”

The robot climbed into the bed and sat by the boy.

“Brian knows you can take care of yourself. He probably didn’t mean anything by it.”

The Brian Robot began rubbing the kid’s back soothingly

“I hate seeing you upset.”

The boy looked over at the robot beside him and smiled softly.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just… He still means so much to me.”

The child slammed his fists onto the mattress in frustration, smile faltering.

“Why can’t I get over him?! Why do I keep allowing him to hurt me?!”

The boy was about to continue his rant, but he was shushed by the robot who proceeded to put a finger over the kid’s lips. The robot smirked at the child as the hand that was rubbing Stewie’s back descended, stopping on the boy’s hip, fingers playing with the waistband of the child’s underwear.

“Here. Let me take your mind off all of that.”

Brian then watched in horror as the robot pushed Stewie onto the bed and proceeded to slowly pull off his underwear, smirking the entire time. He couldn’t tell how Stewie was reacting to the robot’s actions. The boy’s face was just sort of blank as he watched the mechanical canine removing his undergarment. Brian’s eyes were glued to the screen, but as soon as the piece of clothing was pulled off with one last swift yank. He closed his eyes and looked away. But, as soon as he was beginning to take his mind off the show being displayed on the monitor, he heard Stewie’s voice again.

“Bry, no. Come on. I have to get ready for school. We don’t have time for that.”

The canine opened his eyes and looked back at the screen to see the child frowning at his robot companion. Brian kept his eyes focused on Stewie’s face, refusing to glance any lower. He heard the robot chuckle again.

“This won’t take long. Besides, I can’t have my guy running off without his morning wood attended to, can I?”

The child scoffed at this.

“What makes this different from any other morning? I wake up with wood all the time, but that doesn’t mean I need you to take care of it every time.”

The boy glared at the robot dog, but he didn’t make any attempt to move away. He just kept lying there, staring the robot down. Before he had even realized it, Brian’s eyes had wandered away from Stewie’s face and down toward the robot. He caught a glimpse of Stewie’s naked lower region and gulped. He knew he shouldn’t be watching this, but…

_I have to keep an eye on the robot. I need to know what he’s up to._

So, the dog kept watching as the robot persisted onward with his task, reaching a mechanical paw out to grab the child’s erection between two fingers before proceeding to pump it up and down. Stewie’s face remained the same for a while longer, but eventually, his apathetic expression faltered as his lids dropped and a tiny, high-pitched moan escaped from between his lips.

“Ohhh.”

The boy squirmed, giving in to the robot’s touch as the speed of the jerking increased. Brian was paralyzed as he watched, eyes wide and barely breathing. He couldn’t look away, no matter how hard he tried, and it wasn’t just because he was determined to keep his eyes on the Brian Robot. This was…well it was disturbing, no doubt about that, but there was also something about it that was sort of…kind of…exciting. As he continued to watch Stewie writhing on the bed while being jerked off by his lookalike, he could feel a familiar pull below his waist. This took him off guard, causing him to break away eye contact from the screen finally and look down to see, much to his shock, his quickly growing erection. His jaw dropped, and a feeling of regret began to overwhelm him.

_What?! No! I can’t be…I can’t be getting off on this!_

He was no longer watching the monitor, but he could still hear the sounds the kid was making and it wasn’t helping. His erection continued to grow and so did Brian’s need. Almost by instinct, he wrapped his paw around his member and began to stroke it lightly, hissing between his teeth as the need to get off began to overtake him. He gripped the member tighter and started pumping it up and down, all the while his conscience was protesting the entire time. This was so wrong, but it felt so good. He continued to jack off, allowing Stewie’s moans to feed his hungry ears. Eventually, he looked back up at the monitor, only to see that the robot was no longer jerking the child’s dick. He was sucking it. Brian’s breath hitched, and he began to jack off faster at the incredibly erotic sight.

_This is crazy! What am I doing?! How can I be masturbating to this?! Why the fuck am I masturbating right now period?!_

The dog was conflicted, but the pleasure he was experiencing was simply too good to give up. He could feel himself getting close and closer to sweet release, his eyes still glued to the monitor. It was obvious that Stewie wasn’t going to last much longer, either. Brian smirked.

“That’s right. Just a little more.”

He watched the boy as he arched his back and cried out his name, and that’s all it took for Brian to reach his climax.

“Ohhhhh. God.”

He aimed his penis toward the ground and shot his load all over the floor, continuing to pump himself slowly, riding out his orgasm. It took him a few minutes to recover. Everything else faded away for a while as he came down from the high of sexual pleasure, but when he finally did, he looked back up at the monitor to see the child and the robot had left the room.

_Shit!_

The shock of losing track of the robot caused Brian to momentarily forget his brief period of complete insanity as he scanned the monitors, trying to locate the pair. It didn’t take him long to find that they were currently in the bathroom. Stewie was now dressed and preparing for the day while the Brian Robot just…stood there. Realizing the robot wasn’t going to continue with his plan until Stewie was gone, Brian decided it was best to not waste anymore time. He set to work investigating the panel again. The buttons were now just bringing up different documents and notes on the monitors, obviously having to do with all of Stewie’s endeavors. Brian scanned them quickly, seeing if any of them contained any information that could help him. Eventually, he brought up a series of notes labeled **Brian**. The dog’s eyebrow rose at this. Unsurprisingly, seeing a document with his name as the title intrigued him a great deal. He read the first note.

**I think I’m finally close to a solution. I just need to do a little more testing. After all these years, my work will be complete. He may never love me, but still want to save him. I just can’t get over him, no matter how much it may hurt. I don’t even know why I’m doing this anymore. Love’s a bitch.**

Brian knew the note was referring to him, but it was still just vague enough to be confusing. He looked at the timestamp and noticed that it had been made only a few days ago. It was then that he realized the notes were ordered from the most recent to the least recent. He used a scrollbar on the panel to go to the bottom of the document. Then, he read the first note.

**I love him. I know that. What I’m only just realizing, though, is the fact that he’ll be gone long before me. I won’t let that happen. I won’t let him die. I’m going to find a way to keep him alive, and when I do, that’ll be one less obstacle in the way. Don’t worry, Brian. You’re good friend Stewie is going to take care of you.**

Brian looked at the timestamp. The note had been made several years ago, way back when the child was still only one year old. It was clear now that these notes all had to do with the kid’s efforts to keep him from dying of old age. The dog’s jaw fell.

_He’d been working on this for that long?_

Of course, taking the most recent note into consideration, the child was still working on something. What it was, Brian had no idea. Stewie had already kept him from dying. What more was there to do? The dog scrolled up, skimming the notes until he saw another one that caught his eye.

**I’m running out of time. I need to change my plans. The solution I’m currently working on is far from complete and won’t be for some time. I’m still not even sure if I have the formula right this time. I need more time. I need to come up with a quicker solution, even if it’s only a temporary one.**

The dog immediately knew what that temporary solution had been.

_The chamber._

It made sense now. Stewie’s chamber had only made him younger, but he was still continuing to age like a dog. The child wasn’t just trying to save him. He was trying to give him a longer lifespan, a human lifespan, and according to that first note, he must be pretty close.

_Is that why the robot is doing this now?_

It made sense. The robot wanted him out of the picture, and that wasn’t going to happen for a while if Stewie ended up succeeding with this plan. Stewie may have distanced himself from Brian, but he still cared about him deeply, loved him, enough to continue this project. The canine’s heart swelled a little bit at the thought. All this time, Stewie never stopped caring. He smiled, but that smile quickly turned into a frown.

_And what have I done for him? Hurt him. Broken his heart._

The dog felt guilty, but it wasn’t like he could be with Stewie, even if he did it just to make the kid happy and repay him for all that he’s done. It was wrong, and it wasn’t like he felt the same way or anything. Of course, what he had been doing only a few minutes earlier kind of proved otherwise.

_Jesus Christ, what the fuck is wrong with me?_

It was all just too much. He couldn’t think about all this right now, couldn’t process it. Yet, he kept scrolling through the notes. Another one caught his eye.

**Fuck it.**

The dog noticed the date, and immediately recognized it. The note had been made the very day that Stewie had made him younger. Seeing the words stung, but Brian kept reading, looking up at the following note. It had been made a few months later.

**Damn it! I hate him! I hate what he’s done, but I can’t stop. I need to see this through. I love the bloody mutt. Fuck fucking it. Back to work.**

Brian didn’t dwell on this. It told him nothing new, only reinforced what he already knew. He scrolled through the rest of the notes that only talked about things he didn’t fully understand before reaching the top of the document again. He reread the latest note one more time before pressing another button that was sitting right next to the one he’d pressed to bring up the document he’d just read. Another document came up, and the title of this one made the dog tilt his head in confusion.

_Bry? But…I just read the notes about me._

Brian read the first note, which had been made a few days ago.

**Bry is beginning to worry me. I told him how close I was to finishing my formula to save Brian, and he didn’t seem enthusiastic in the slightest. I swear he’s jealous, which would be cute if it weren’t for the fact that it’s just plain creepy that the android version of my “crush” is envious of my feelings for the real deal. Bry has helped me. He’s been there for me. I’ll give him that, but he’s not Brian. He’ll never be Brian, and while I may never have Brian for my own. I’ll never settle for an imitation. I love the real one too much. Pretending gets harder and harder every day. I think it’s time I shut him down. It’ll be hard, but it’s for my own good. I can’t keep going on with this lie.**

Brian had to wonder if the robot had seen this note somehow. Maybe this is why it was so desperate. Curiosity took over. The dog scrolled to the bottom and read the first note.

**Brian and I have been going off on more and more trips lately. It amazes me that no one in my idiotic family ever notices this, but who’s to say they’ll continue to be so oblivious. No. I need to make a couple of decoys. It’s only practical. I like going on these trips. Brian’s a pretty cool guy, not like I’ll ever tell him that myself, of course.**

Reading this brought the dog back to when the child had first used those stupid robots.

_So. That’s where it all started. Damn it, Stewie. Why couldn’t you have been a normal kid. Everything would be so much easier if you were._

Brian regretted thinking such a thing. He didn’t want Stewie to be normal. He liked the kid for the way he was, and it was hard to imagine where he would be right now if the child had just been born a normal baby. He shivered at the thought of how empty his life would be, more so than it already was. He scrolled up and skimmed a few notes detailing the construction of the robots but stopped again when he saw another interesting one.

**I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I used the Brian Robot for sexual pleasure. The temptation has been there for a while, but after yesterday, I needed it. I feel weird about it. In the moment, it provided a decent outlet for my lust, but I need more than that. I might just have to make a few modifications. If I can’t have the real Brian, I’ll just make one of my own. It’s better than nothing, right?**

Reading this note caused Brian to scowl. He hated the idea that Stewie had used that abomination for comfort. At the same time, though, he couldn’t blame the kid. Sure, it was crazy, but a part of him understood. Unrequited love hurt. Brian knew that, and if the robot helped ease that hurt, it made complete sense that Stewie would do what he did. The dog scrolled through some more notes that talked about the modifications Stewie made to the robot over the years: advanced AI, synthetic skin, realistic limbs, actual fur implants, anatomically correct organs. It was really quite fascinating. The only thing keeping the “robot” from being an organic being was the fact that he was constructed. He wasn’t a clone, but really, he might as well have been. Stewie did everything he could to, basically, create another Brian. Still, it was all fake, still inorganic parts no matter how organic they may seem. Brian finished skimming the notes. There was no truly useful information to be found in them, just a disturbing history that he didn’t want to dwell on. He sighed and pressed another button. He’d almost pressed every button on the panel, by this point, and it was beginning to look like there was nothing here that could help him. Suddenly, he heard a voice, and it wasn’t coming from any of the monitors.

“ **Lockdown terminated**.”

Brian’s gaze immediately shot to the monitors. Stewie was nowhere to be found, and he quickly realized that the robot had returned to the lab.

_Shit! He must have left for school!_

Brian saw on one of the monitors that the robot was walking over to a similar looking control center, also displaying security footage from around the house and lab…including one monitor that was currently displaying the very room he was in. The dog gasped and hopped out of the chair only to fall to the ground, screaming in pain as he went down. He reached down and gripped his throbbing ankle. He had forgotten about his injury, but he couldn’t worry about that now. He had to hide. He couldn’t let the robot see where he was. Brian began crawling across the floor as fast as he could, eyes fixed on the security camera he had noticed when he first entered the room. If he could just get behind that camera, the robot wouldn’t be able to tell where he was. He pawed at the ground and dragged his body across it, skin rubbing unpleasantly against the metal floor. It hurt like hell, but he ignored the pain and kept crawling until he was over by the corner the security camera was in. He sat up against the wall, body now directly under the camera and hidden from the view of anyone who happened to be watching. From where he was sitting, he could still see the monitors from across the room, though the details were a little fuzzy at such a distance. He was able to pick out the monitor that was displaying the other control panel, though, and watched as the robot took a seat and began scanning the monitors for any trace of his captive. It didn’t take the robot long to realize that none of the screens were showing him what he was looking for, and this caused the robot to seethe and bring his fist down onto the armrest of the chair he was sitting in, crushing it with the strength of the impact. Brian gulped and continued to watch as the robot pressed a button before leaning down to speak into the panel. His voice echoed over the intercom.

“Brian? I know you’re in here. I must say, I’m impressed that you were able to escape, but you really are starting to piss me off. Why don’t you be a good dog and come back up here. It really is your best option. It’s only a matter of time before I find you. You think you can wait for Stewie? You think he’ll save you? Ha! Hardly. I only need a couple of hours to complete the process of taking control of your body, and trust me, it won’t take me one to find you. You’re only making this harder on yourself. There’s no hope for you. Don’t fight this.”

Brian’s breath began to quicken as fear started to take a hold. He got away from the robot once. Odds were, he wouldn’t be able to do it again. After a couple of seconds, the robot began speaking again.

“Look. I’m about to go over the security camera footage here. It’ll show me everything: how you escaped and where you’re hiding. You can make this easier on the both of us if you just come out now. I’m on the upper level in the center room. If you’re not up here by the time I finish going through this footage, I’m coming after you, and trust me, it won’t be pretty.”

And with that final warning, the robot shut off the intercom, and Brian watched as he began to rewind the footage from all the cameras simultaneously. This meant he was no longer able to see the current feed, so Brian stood up and hopped back over the chair. He began pressing buttons again, his desperation growing.

_Come on! There has to be something here!_

He reached the final set of buttons, but all they did was bring up more and more blueprints for various machines that Brian had no hope of understanding the mechanics of. One of the blueprints was actually of that old Stewie robot. It appeared that hadn’t been worked on in ages…

_Wait a second._

A thought occurred to Brian. If there were blueprints for the Stewie robot, then, surely, there must also be blueprints for the Brian one.

_Maybe it can show me a weakness or a way to shut it off or something!_

It was the best idea he’d had yet, so he rushed through the buttons, seeking the one that would bring up the blueprint he sought. As he was doing this, though, the robot’s voice came back over the intercom.

“Oh. Well, that was quite creative, I’ll give you that. Maybe you’re not as dumb as I thought you were. It would appear that I underestimated you. Honestly, it makes me feel a little better. At least my competition is somewhat clever. I still don’t see what Stewie sees in you, let alone why he’d care about you so much, but anyway, I know where you are. You’re in the lower level, in the other control room, in fact. I’ll see you in just a few. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The intercom shut off, and Brian watched as the Brian robot got out of the chair and proceeded down the hallway, walking casually, no sense of urgency to be seen.

_Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!_

Brian went back to pressing the buttons, until, finally only one more remained, the one at the very end of the console. His finger hovered over it. This was his last chance. He took a breath and pressed it. As soon as the button had been depressed, the last blueprint popped up on screen. Brian read the title.

**Bry**

It was almost too good to be true. He couldn’t help but chuckle darkly.

_Of course. Of course, it was the very last fucking one. If the robot doesn’t kill me, at this rate, my incoming heart attack will._

Brian began looking over the blueprints. Outside, he could hear the elevator beginning to rise. Remembering the elevator control button from earlier, the dog quickly located it and pressed it, causing the elevator to stop ascending and come back down. Almost immediately, though, the elevator started going up again. Brian simply pressed the button once more. If he could keep that elevator from going up, he just might be safe until Stewie returned. He looked at the monitor that showed the Brian Robot standing by the elevator door, tapping his foot, obviously enraged that he couldn’t get the elevator to cooperate. Suddenly, the robot turned back around and walked back into the upper control room. He spoke into the intercom again.

“Man! You really know how to get under my skin! You figured out how to control the elevator! Bravo! THAT STILL WON’T SAVE YOU! Computer.”

Another voice responded, an automated voice.

“ **Input command.”**

The Brian Robot chuckled before speaking again.

“Enact Protocol Seven. Disable all control in Sector B.”

As soon as the robot said this, the security monitors began shutting down, each of them going dark one by one. Brian’s eyes went wide.

“No. No. No! NO!”

All the screens went dark except for the primary one, the one displaying the robot’s blueprints. Brian could no longer see what was going on outside the room he was in.

“ **Protocol Seven initiated.** ”

The Brian Robot chuckled one last time before getting off the intercom and no doubt heading for the elevator. In no time at all, Brian heard the elevator beginning to rise again. He pressed the same button from before, but it did nothing. He was out of options. He refocused his attention on the blueprint.

_Come on, Brian! Think! There has to be a way to stop him!_

By the time, the elevator had left the lower level, Brian had gone over most of the blueprint. He was beginning to lose the last shred of hope he had, when his eye caught a minor detail. It was in the robot’s collar. Actually, it was in the tag on the collar. Brian focused in on this and read aloud the explanation in the blueprint.

“Tag: Installed with a communicator to be used in the event that Bry requires assistance. For emergency use only. Sends an alert directly to cell phone. Response is a priority.”

Brian clapped his paws together.

_That’s it! That’s how I reach Stewie!_

The dog’s excitement quickly faded, though. In order to use the communicator, he had to get in contact with the robot, meaning he’d have to get caught because there was simply no way he could fight the robot off at such a close range. It was his only option, though. If he could contact Stewie, let the kid know what was happening, the kid would come back and put an end to this madness. Of course, there was always the chance that the robot would be finished with him by the time Stewie returned. He gulped. It was risky, but at this point, it was a risk he was going to have to take if the Brian Robot got to him. He heard the elevator descending. In just a few more moments, the robot would be at the door. He was out of time. Brian sighed and took a moment to compose himself. He wasn’t going to give that _thing_ the pleasure of seeing how scared he actually was. He listened as the elevator door opened and as the footsteps on the walkway got closer and closer until they were right outside the door. Then, to his surprise, he heard a knock on the door.

“Brrrrriiiiiiaaaaan. This is your last chance. Let me in, and I promise, to go a little easier on you than I was planning to.”

Brian didn’t respond. He just continued to sit there silently, waiting for the robot to make his move. He heard the robot sigh before speaking again.

“Alright. Fine.”

Suddenly, there was an incredibly loud booming noise that caused Brian to jump in his seat and turn around. He saw the door of the room, torn off of its hinges and lying on the ground, a large dent in the center of it. He looked up and saw the robot with his foot in the air, indicating that it had kicked the door down. The robot lowered its foot and tilted its head at the dog.

“See? Now I’m going to have to fix that before Stewie gets home.”

The robot proceeded to walk across the room slowly, menacingly, scowling at the dog sitting in the chair. When it got over by the chair, it turned the seat around so that Brian was facing him. He glanced off to the side and noticed something on the floor. Once he realized what it was, he became enraged and grabbed Brian tightly by the collar.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Why the fuck is there semen on the floor?! What did you get off on?!”

Brian didn’t say anything, he just smirked at the silliness of the situation. The robot looked over at the blank monitors, and it realized just what Brian had jacked off to.

“You… You watched us! YOU SPIED ON US!”

The robot yanked Brian out of the chair, causing his feet to hover over the floor as he was suspended in the air. The grip was choking Brian, and he couldn’t help but reach up with his paws and try to loosen the hold the robot had on him. It was useless, though. Still, Brian had to chuckle at this.

“What can I say? I figured I deserved one last good release before I died, and it’s not like I expected you two to get ‘intimate’.”

Brian made air quotes with his fingers, teasing the robot, acting much braver than he actually felt. The robot just growled and slung Brian to the side, smashing his back against the wall. Brian yelped at the sudden impact. His back was going to be bruised from that one, no doubt. The robot got close to him then, bringing his face extremely close to the dog’s and speaking in a low, intimidating whisper.

“You don’t get that privilege. You had your chance, and you ignored him. I was the one who was there for him. Me! Not you. He’s mine, and he always will be.”

Brian just shook his head, eyes wandering down to look at the robot’s tag. He aimed his paw at it and prepared to make the grab.

“You may feel that way, and yeah, maybe I don’t deserve him. Maybe I gave up that chance, but Stewie deserves better than _you_ , and no matter what you do, he’ll never truly love you.”

The robot reared back his fist, preparing to punch the dog, and Brian used this as his opportunity to reach out and grab the robot’s tag. As soon as he had it in his hand, he felt a button and pressed it. A red light began blinking on the tag, and the robot’s jaw dropped as he released Brian in from his grip, momentarily distracted by his shock. Brian fell to the ground, a smirk plastered on his face despite the pain of landing on his leg again. There was silence for a few seconds, and then, there was a new voice. Stewie spoke, voice emitting from the speaker in the tag.

“Bry? What’s wrong?”

The robot’s gaze fell on Brian again, mouth still agape, and there was a tense pause before the robot growled again and lunged at Brian, aiming for his throat. Brian ducked out of the way and began shouting.

“Stewie! It’s me! It’s Brian! The real one! The robot! He’s gone crazy! He’s trying to ki…”

Brian was cut off by the robot grabbing him by the throat, depriving him of oxygen. The dog clawed at the mechanical paws, trying desperately to pry them loose. As he struggled, he could hear Stewie over the speaker.

“Brian?! What?! How did you…?! The robot?! Oh, shit! Shit! Don’t worry! I’m on my…”

The voice was silenced. The robot had grabbed the tag and crushed it in his free paw. Brian’s vision was beginning to blur, and he knew he was only seconds away from passing out. He just watched as the robot glared at him in anger and annoyance. Then, he saw black, and the last thing he heard was the robot’s voice.

“You’re such a pain in the ass.”

* * *

 Brian woke up to find himself tied up once again, this time with a wire of some kind. He immediately began to struggle, but his struggling only caused the wire to cut into his skin, causing several cuts that began to bleed. He screamed in pain and stopped his struggling, leaning back against a wall he was next to. He heard laughter. He knew that laugh. He looked to the side and saw the robot laughing like a maniac, glaring at him with a frightening intensity.

“How do you like that?! I’d like to see you try to escape from that without cutting yourself to ribbons!”

The robot ran over to Brian and knelt down beside him.

“I hope you know you haven’t changed anything. The plan is still the same. It doesn’t matter that Stewie knows. He’ll never reach you in time. I’ve activated the security protocols for intruders, and believe me, they’re quite effective. After all, Stewie designed them.”

Brian’s eyes went wide, his pain momentarily forgotten as he began to worry about what Stewie was about to be up against. The robot scoffed at him.

“Oh. Don’t give me that look. The security in this place is harsh and deadly, but Stewie will be fine. The kid will get past it. I know he will. He’s just too amazing to be taken down by his own security. It won’t stop him, not completely, but it will give me just enough time to complete my procedure, and then, when I have the opportunity, I’ll simply capture him and wipe his memory of this whole mess. You’ll be gone forever, and he won’t even care because he’ll still have “you” only it will really be me.”

The robot patted Brian on the head and chuckled. Brian winced away, causing the wires to dig into his skin again. The robot simply shook his head at this.

“But enough talk. I’ve done far too much of that. I really did want to take a while to get .to know you and explain everything. It only seemed fair. I respect you to some extent because Stewie does. I can’t help that, but now, I’ve said all I need to and you’ve put up the best fight I’m going to allow. So, for the last time, goodbye, Brian.”

And with that, the robot placed a rag over Brian’s muzzle, and almost instantly, the dog’s eyes shut as he fell into unconsciousness once again.


	4. Interlude II

_ The dog rolled to the side and yawned, not wanting to wake up and leave the incredibly comfortable bed he was currently lying in, but it soon became apparent that he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep. With a sigh, he opened his eyes and rubbed them before sitting up and stretching. He looked to his side and called out a name. _

_ “Stewie?” _

_ As soon as the word left his mouth, a sense of confusion struck him. The realization of where he was suddenly hit him. He was in Stewie’s crib. It didn’t take him long to realize just how little sense that made. Stewie’s crib was up in the attic, most likely to never be used again for quite some time, if ever, yet here it was, back in the kid’s room…and he was sleeping in it. He wasn’t sure why he’d been sleeping in Stewie’s crib. He didn’t even remember falling asleep. He just woke up here. Not only was it weird that he’d be in the kid’s old crib, but just the fact that he had slept in the boy’s room at all was incredibly strange. Surely, Stewie hadn’t been ok with it. They definitely hadn’t shared the crib, but as Brian looked around the room, it became clear that the crib was the only bed in the room. Everything about the boy’s room was exactly the same except that the area where the bed was supposed to be had now been replaced by this crib. The dog rubbed behind his neck. This didn’t make any sense. What the hell had happened last night? He gave another stretch before climbing out of the crib. The only person who could give him the answers he needed was Stewie. The kid wasn’t in this room, but Brian was pretty sure he had to be somewhere in the house. _

I guess I better go find him, make sure he’s not getting into any kind of trouble.

_ The canine walked out of the room and called down the hall. _

_ “Stewie? Stewie, are you up here?” _

_ He got no reply, but that still didn’t mean that Stewie couldn’t be up here. The boy was probably just ignoring just like he always did. The dog proceeded down the hallway. All the doors were open, so all he had to do was simply peak inside the rooms to make sure that Stewie wasn’t in any of them. He made a quick sweep of each room, but there was still no sign of Stewie. He turned around and walked down to the other end of the hall where Peter and Lois’s room was. That door was shut, so there was a good chance that Stewie was in there doing something. He walked up to the door and turned the knob. The door was unlocked, so he stepped inside. _

_ “Stewie?” _

_ Again, there was no answer, and the room appeared to be empty. Just to make sure, though, the dog made sure to do a quick but thorough search of the room and its joined bathroom. After all that, Stewie was still nowhere to be found. Brian sighed and left the room, but as soon as he was back in the hallway, he heard laughter, a familiar sort of laughter, Stewie’s laughter. The canine wasted no time in tracing the sound, discovering that it was coming from downstairs. Brian practically jogged over to the stairs and down them. As he ran down them, he called out again. _

_ “Stewie?” _

_ He heard that laugh again, and a smile formed on his lips as he listened to it. Once he reached the bottom of the steps, though, his smile fell as the sight before him froze him in place. He was shocked. The child was sitting on the couch watching television, a sitcom of some sort, but he wasn’t sitting there alone. That fact alone wasn’t the shocking part, though. No, no, no. Not at all. What was so shocking to Brian was the reveal of  _ who  _ Stewie was sitting on the couch with. It was…him. But… But that was impossible because he was right here. Why was there another him?! Brian called out to the child again. _

_ “Stewie?!” _

_ The boy didn’t respond, and Brian assumed the child was just ignoring him. But why would he do that?! How could he not be just as shocked to see two Brian’s in the same room?! Why was he so happy to be with that Brian in the first place? Stewie hated him. Didn’t he? As soon as the question entered the dog’s mind, a thought occurred to him. _

No. He doesn’t hate me. He… He loves me.

_ And just like that, something triggered inside of Brian. Images, memories, began flashing through his head. He remembered Peter and Lois going to the hospital, leaving him to take care of Stewie. He remembered the power outage. He remembered his attacker. He remembered… _

The robot!

_ It was all so clear now. The Brian sitting on the couch next to Stewie was that fucking robot, the one who had been trying to kill him! The dog’s heart dropped at this thought. How was he seeing this then? Why weren’t they paying any attention to him? He ran up in front of the television and flailed his arms, trying to get the kid’s attention. _

_ “Stewie! Stewie! It’s me! It’s Brian, the real Brian! That’s your stupid robot! He tried to kill me! He wanted my body so he could trick you into believing he was actually me!” _

_ The boy paid him no mind, though. He just kept watching the TV, even though Brian was currently blocking the screen so there was no way the kid could actually see anything. The canine growled, growing frustrated. _

What the hell is his problem?! Doesn’t he realize how serious this is?!

_ Brian marched over to Stewie and stood right in front of him, arms folded over his chest. _

_ “What the hell, Stewie! You know damn well that I’m right here! You’re not blind and deaf!” _

_ Still, the child continued to ignore him. Brian was seriously beginning to lose his patience. Was this the kid’s way of punishing him or something? If it was, it was cruel. Sure, he understood now just how badly he had hurt Stewie, but all he wanted to do now was make it right which this little brat wasn’t making easy for him. Not that they could begin mending their friendship right now anyway since, well, that evil fucking robot was still ticking. They needed to take care of that thing first, which for some reason was ignoring him just like Stewie was, but Brian couldn’t think about that right now. All that mattered at this very moment was getting this little fuckers attention. He waved a paw in front of the boy’s face, but the child didn’t even blink. Having reached his limit for putting up with bullshit, the dog went to grab the boy’s shoulders, hoping to shake some sense into him, but as he tried to close his paws around the child, he realized he couldn’t grab a hold of Stewie. His body passed right through the boy’s, and Stewie didn’t even seem to notice this. Brian’s eyes went wide, and he reached out again, this time watching as the entire length of his arm simply phased through Stewie’s chest, not even causing the boy to flinch. The canine pulled away even more confused than he had already been. _

_ “What the… What the hell is going on?!” _

_ Fear began to spread through him, and he began to panic as a possibility began to occur to him. The memories were still flooding back, and he now remembered the last thing that had happened before he went to sleep. _

He captured me again, and I…couldn’t escape. I never woke up…

_ Stewie had been his only hope, but here was Stewie now, sitting on the couch, laughing, completely happy, apparently completely unaware that he was actually with the robot, like the child had completely forgotten about the perilous situation from before. _

Like his memory of the incident had been erased…just like the robot said he was going to do.

_ A tear fell from the dog’s eye. He finally knew what was going on. _

He won… I’m…dead.

_ Brian fell to his knees as panic began to overtake him. He couldn’t breathe, though, considering he was no longer alive, that didn’t really matter. It felt like he was having a panic attack, though.  _

This can’t be happening! That robot couldn’t have won! I can’t be dead! Stewie can’t be tricked! He can’t live this lie!

_ He looked back at the pair on the couch and noticed that they were now looking at each other, smiling at one another like idiots, and the site caused Brian’s grief to turn to rage. He stood up and focused his attention on the Brian Robot. _

_ “No. No! You do not get to be tender with him! You don’t deserve him! You’re manipulating him! You don’t love him! I DO!” _

_ Brian didn’t even stop to think about what he had just said. What was the point in even denying it anymore? Stewie had been, was, the most important thing in the world to him, and now this…this  _ thing  _ was taking advantage of the boy’s feelings for  _ him _. It made Brian sick, and that feeling only got worse as he watched the pair leaning toward each other, faces coming closer and closer, until, finally, their lips touched. Brian saw red and, without thinking, jumped at the robot arms outstretched to grab the monster by the throat. Of course, there was no point in this, though. He simply phased right through the imposter, landing on the other side of the couch, still able to hear the sounds of lips smacking together in a frenzy interspersed with the occasional moan. The dog lay there, face in the carpet, trying to block out the noise and the horrible thoughts and images they brought with them. After awhile, he sat up again, and turned to face the back of the couch, refusing to go around and see what was taking place for himself. He called out to the boy again, voice soft and broken. _

_ “Stewie… Stewie…it’s not me. I’m right here. I’m right here.” _

_ He repeated those words over and over until they faded into a whisper. Tears began to collect in his eyes again, and he hung his head as he allowed them to flow freely. It was over. The robot had won. He had Stewie, and Stewie had been convinced that his feelings had finally been reciprocated. Only what the child now believed was actually partially true. His feelings had been reciprocated. Brian knew it now. He loved Stewie, and he should have figured that out much sooner. Now, though, it was too late. He’d wasted that opportunity, turned Stewie down, ignored the obvious, broken his heart, brought him to the point where he needed to create that monster, and now, that monster had killed him and taken his place for good. Stewie was happy, but…that happiness was based on a lie, a lie he’d probably never know about. It broke Brian’s heart to think about. Stewie deserved so much better. _

This is all my fault…

_ All Brian felt now was regret. He wished more than anything that that actually was him on the couch with Stewie, finally giving the boy the love he’d always deserved and that Brian had always wanted to share with him. He closed his eyes and imagined it for a minute, allowed himself to indulge in the fantasy. He never forgot the reality of the situation, but for a little while, he was able to escape from this nightmare and imagine the way things should have been, how they should be now. At last, though, he had to come back. He opened his eyes, tears still falling, and whispered through broken sobs. _

_ “I’m so sorry, kid.” _

_ At that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder, a small hand, a familiar hand. Brian turned his head and was shocked to see Stewie, only it wasn’t the Stewie that was currently on the couch. Well, technically it was, but it was a younger Stewie. It was Stewie from a few years ago, Stewie from when he’d made the dog younger. The canine’s jaw dropped. He tried to say something, but there were simply no words that could escape his mouth at that moment. He was speechless. Stewie smiled at him, petting the shoulder his hand was currently on. _

_ “It’s alright. Don’t blame yourself for this.” _

_ The dog gulped and turned himself completely around. At last, words were beginning to form. _

_ “How can I not blame myself for this? This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t rejected you!” _

_ The boy frowned at this. _

_ “It’s much more complicated than that, Brian, and I won’t let you take all the blame for what is essentially my mistake mainly. You didn’t force me to modify my robot. I made that choice, but if I had had any way of knowing what would have happened, I would have never done it. I would never want for something like this to happen to you…to us.” _

_ The child knelt down so he was eye-level with the canine that was sitting on the floor. _

_ “We both made mistakes, Brian, but it’s not too late to fix those mistakes.” _

_ The dog tilted his head at this. _

_ “What are you talking about? I’m fucking dead! How can I fix this now?!” _

_ The boy scoffed at this. _

_ “And how do you know for sure that you’re dead? Hmm? I figured you of all people wouldn’t believe in an afterlife. What? Do you think you’re some kind of ghost or something? Is that what’s going on?” _

_ The dog didn’t say anything for a while. He just stared at the boy, thinking. After a bit, he spoke again. _

_ “I don’t know what else this could be? How else would you explain something like this?” _

_ Brian continued to look at Stewie, and suddenly, another thought occurred to him. _

_ “Wait a second! How are you even here?! How did you know what was going on?!” _

_ The boy smirked at the canine before releasing the expression into a genuine smile. _

_ “I’m just good like that, and I’ll do whatever it takes to be there for you when you really need me, my love.” _

_ That last bit caused Brian to forget about his mounting confusion, and he couldn’t help but smile at it. He was pretty sure he was blushing, too, even if he didn’t understand how that was possible either. It wasn’t long before the dog was frowning again, though. He sighed. _

_ “I can’t believe I just took you for granted. I can’t believe I just ignored someone who cared about me like you do.” _

_ The canine reached out his paw and took the boy’s hand. To his surprise, he was actually able to make the grab, and once he was sure he wasn’t going to just phase right through the boy’s hand, he wrapped the hand tightly into his paw and squeezed it affectionately. _

_ “I want to fix this, Stewie. I just... I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I’ll do whatever it takes, anything, to make this right.” _

_ He pulled the child into his lap and let go of the boy’s hand so he could wrap his arms around him and hold him in a tight embrace. The contact felt so incredibly good and it was a huge comfort to him. Stewie returned the hug and buried his face into the dog’s chest, kissing it tenderly. He looked up at the dog and smiled at him. _

_ “I know you will.” _

_ The dog smiled back, and it was at this point that he realized the noise that had been coming from behind him had finally ceased. He rubbed the child’s back, and the boy hummed at the gesture, causing the canine to chuckle. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against his partners, never breaking eye contact. He sighed happily and continued to express his affection for the child by rubbing his paw up and down the spine of his back. _

_ “I love you so much. I know that now, and I’m not going to ignore it any longer. I want to be yours. I want to make you happy, truly happy.” _

_ Brian still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do or even where to really begin. The situation really was a hopeless one, but he just couldn’t feel that hopeless when he had this amazing kid in his arms. Stewie had always been his purest source of strength, and right now, he was taking full advantage of that strength to get him through this trial. The two of them could do anything together. They’d proven that time and time again. What was one more time? The dog ceased rubbing the boy’s back as he realized that he’d slowly been leaning his face closer and closer to the child’s. He paused for a second, taking a second to think about what he was about to do, not because he wasn’t sure if he should but because it was at that moment that he realized just how badly he wanted to do this. Before he could dwell on that too much, though, the child closed the gap, taking Brian off guard slightly. Still, the dog didn’t pull away. Instead, he only pressed his lips more insistently against the child’s and closed his eyes, taking in the full experience of kissing the boy. It was amazing and better than he could have ever hoped to have imagined a kiss with anyone could be. He pulled the child in closer and pushed his tongue against the boy’s lips. Stewie didn’t hesitate to allow the dog access, taking the opportunity to slip his own tongue into the dog’s mouth. The canine moaned when the child did this and could feel the kid smirking into the kiss. He felt the tiny hands on his chest, petting him and knitting tightly into his fur, so much love and affection, something Brian had never had and never wanted to be without again. The passion was mounting, and in the next instant, the boy had pushed him to the floor so that they were lying down, Stewie on the top, kissing like mad and running his hands over any surface of the dog he could reach. Brian could do nothing but simply bask in the incredibly pleasant treatment, the incredible love that was being displayed, all for him. He loved this kid so much, and this kid loved him. To think that he could have had this at any time in the past several years simply blew his mind. _

I’ve been such an idiot.

_ The canine’s paws began to roam along the child’s, as well, running up and down Stewie’s back before traveling down his sides. He grabbed the boy’s hips and pulled him closer. The dog craved more, more contact, more of this wonderfully intense love that was so close to overwhelming him. At the same time, though, he was already losing himself in this embrace. Everything was getting foggy, and all he felt was the pleasure of having Stewie as his own. He continued to kiss the boy, tongue exploring the child’s mouth eagerly, but out of nowhere, he heard a voice that he couldn’t pinpoint the location of. He ignored the voice, though. Nothing was going to end this. He’d waited too long for this. Stewie had waited too long for this. Once again, though, he heard the voice. This time it was louder, but Brian still couldn’t tell what it was saying. He ignored it again and moved his paws to remove the kid’s shirt, knowing that he wanted to take this encounter as far as the child would allow, but as he began to lift the shirt up, he heard the voice again. This time it was much louder. _

_ “Brian! Wake up!” _

_ The dog stopped tugging on the boy’s shirt as he realized that the voice he was hearing was Stewie’s. The child on top of him had ceased kissing him, as well, and Brian could feel the boy’s lips being pulled away from his own. _

No!

_ The dog wrapped his arms around the child again and tried to pull him back into their embrace, but the boy struggled against it. He heard Stewie shouting again, and this time it actually seemed to be coming from the child that was on top of him. _

_ “Come on you stupid mutt! Wake up! We don’t have much time!” _

_ The boy wrestled his way out of the dog’s relentless grasp, and Brian’s eyes shot open to see just what the hell was going on. Stewie was sitting on top of him, face full of anger and worry, glaring at him. The boy beat a fist on the canine’s chest, and the blow momentarily knocked the wind out of Brian, causing him to close his eyes and hiss through his teeth due to the slight pain the impact had caused. _

_ “Dammit, Brian! Don’t you give up on me! I won’t let you give up on me! Open your eyes!” _

_ The dog waved his paw at the boy on top of him, trying to push the annoying child off. _

Jeez, Stewie! You really know how to kill a mood!

_ Brian felt the kid hit his chest again, and as the boy shouted at him once more, he opened his eyes to address the child about this sudden change in behavior. _

_ “What the hell is wrong with you?!” _

_ The boy just ignored him and hit his chest again, still glaring, though the worry was more apparent now. _

_ “Brian! Come on! Don’t do this! I need you to open your eyes! Open  _ your  _ eyes  _ for me!”


	5. Act III

Suddenly, everything was black. Brian could feel that his head was hurting like hell. He went to grab his temple, but quickly realized that he couldn’t move...at all. He could still feel Stewie on top of him, and the boy was still hitting his chest.

“Come on, Brian! You’ve been through worse than this! Open your eyes!”

The dog shook his head and slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted by a blinding, bright light. This only increased the pain in his head, so he turned his eyes away and waited for his vision to clear up. Soon, the haze faded away and he could make out his surroundings. He was very disappointed to see that he was once again bound to an operating table. He could also see the Brian robot standing off to the side. This caused his heart to start racing as panic set in, but when the robot just stayed there, Brian realized that it appeared to be shut down. Its eyes were wide open but completely lifeless, and it stood completely still. There wasn’t even the normal rising and falling of a chest that you would usually see from something that looked so lifelike. It was...unsettling. 

Brian realized he had a moment to figure out a way to escape, so he began scanning his surroundings. It was obvious that he was still in the lower level of Stewie’s secret lair. There were all kinds of inventions lying around that the dog couldn’t make heads or tails of, and there didn’t seem to really be any rhyme or reason to the layout. It was all just sort of scattered about haphazardly, the larger inventions just happening to form the closest thing to hallways in the area. It really was just one big gigantic warehouse, though. 

Brian didn’t see anything that could help him, so he looked up to see what was behind him. Despite having to view it upside-down, he was able to tell that it was the machine that he had seen the robot tinkering with earlier, only now that he was closer he could finally make out what the machine was. It was a very crude Stewie robot, not quite as crude as the one from back in the day but still miles away from the Brian robot. This robot was currently holding a bloody scalpel, but it too wasn’t currently functioning.

Just then, the canine felt something on his left wrist come loose. He finally turned his head in that direction and saw Stewie sitting on top of him just like the kid had been in his dream, except this was Stewie as he was now, tossing a rope to the side. Brian blinked his eyes. He had to make sure he wasn’t seeing anything. It seemed like it had been forever since he’d felt any hope, but this really was Stewie.

_ He made it! He came for me! _

In that moment, the situation no longer seemed that dire. Stewie was here. The child had come for him immediately. He was still even wearing his backpack for school.

The boy moved to begin working on the rope securing his other wrist. It was at this moment, that their eyes met. Brian’s breath caught in his throat, and Stewie paused for only a brief second before once again setting to work. Brian was pretty sure he was able to make out just a slight smile on the child’s face as he muttered under his breath.

“Oh, thank god...”

Brian couldn’t help but smile.

“St-Stewie, you made it. Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was a goner.”

The boy didn’t say anything, keeping his focus on the task at hand. In no time, he had the rope undone and made quick work of the wire wrapped tightly around Brian’s torso. As Stewie began working to untie Brian’s ankles, the dog sat up and took a second to rub his sore wrists. He suddenly felt that pain in his head again, and he reached up to place his palm on his forehead. When he pulled his palm away, he saw fresh blood. He reached back up and winced as he felt the fairly large cut that must have happened just recently. Then, he remembered the scalpel. Stewie saw the look of realization on his face and frowned.

“The robot was already cutting into you when I arrived. I was only just barely able to stop it, but you’re still going to have a pretty good gash there.”

The rope loosened, and Brian pulled his left leg free. Stewie turned to take care of the last rope and winced when he saw the rough state of Brian’s ankle. He delicately but swiftly untied the last rope and then assisted Brian as he climbed down from the table onto the equally cold and uninviting metal floor. The dog hissed in pain when he landed on his feet. It wasn’t just his ankle, though. All of the injuries he had accumulated over the last several hours were making it really hard to get up and around, but he fought through it. He wasn’t about to give up now. After making sure that Brian was steady on his feet, Stewie turned his attention towards the Brian robot.

“He’s disabled for now, but who knows when he’ll start back up again. I need to shut him down completely while I have the chance.”

The boy started walking towards the robot, and Brian breathed a sigh of relief. This was all about to be over. Once that robot was taken care of, he’d finally be safe.

_ I guess that’s twice I owe you for saving my life, kid. _

He went to chuckle, but stopped when he saw something that made his heart start racing and blood go cold. The eyes of the Brian robot began to light up and the limbs began to move. What was intended to be a chuckle turned into a sigh.

_ No... _

Stewie came to a halt and quickly turned around, rushing back over to Brian.

“Shit! He’s starting up again! There’s no time! We have to get to the elevator!”

The boy wrapped his arm around Brian and placed the dog’s arm over his shoulder as he helped him get moving, urging him to move as fast as he could. Brian didn’t really have to be urged, though, as he knew good and well what would happen should the robot catch up with him. He was aching all over, but he tried to ignore that as he hopped alongside Stewie, the two of them working together, practically running down the nearest corridor in the direction of the large walkway that overlooked the area. As they were rushing away, Brian heard a loud voice shouting from behind.

“Oh, come on! You have got to be kidding me! What’s a guy gotta do to steal a body around here!?”

Brian knew that the robot was back up and running, and now, he was going to come after them. The dog didn’t have time to dwell on this, though, since Stewie began pulling him to the side, diverting them from their straight path. Brian was confused by this, but he didn’t ask any questions. He knew that Stewie knew what he was doing. Plus, he also didn’t want to risk the Brian robot possibly overhearing him. He followed Stewie as they began ducking and weaving their way through various corridors, sometimes even backtracking. After doing this for a while, the child came to a stop.

“Ok. That should buy us some time.”

The boy eased Brian down to the ground before taking a second to catch his breath.

“This place is simply too big. It will take him awhile to find us, but we can’t rest easy just yet. Before I got here, Bry must have put this place into lockdown. I would lift it, but it seems that he also revoked any control I have over the place. He’s too fucking smart for his own good.”

The child took off his backpack, set it down, and pulled out, what Brian assumed to be, some kind of pen and a pair of high-tech looking goggles. After pocketing the pen, the boy put his backpack back on and continued.

“There are sentry bots patrolling the area, and they’ll incapacitate us with tasers, if they spot us. There are also security cameras that will sound an alarm if they spot us, but avoiding them won’t be a problem. I know all the blind spots around here.”

Stewie stopped again and placed the goggles on his head before continuing.

“What will be a problem are the various traps I’ve set in place. Certain sectors have invisible trip lasers that will cause floors to become electrified or bring up walls to trap any trespassers. I know where they are, of course, but avoiding them means we won’t be able to make a beeline for the elevator. It’ll slow us down, but hopefully, we can avoid Bry long enough to make it out of here.”

The child pressed a button on his goggles and began looking around. Seeing this sparked Brian’s curiosity.

“And what are those exactly?”

Stewie didn’t answer, at first, but after several seconds, he pressed the button again and looked at Brian.

“Oh. These are just some X-ray goggles I slapped together when I was bored one afternoon. I’m using them to see if Bry is anywhere near us. We’re in the clear for now.”

The dog just nodded his head. It was simple enough to understand. He went to stand up, figuring that he’d rested enough. It was time to start moving again. He groaned in pain as he clumsily got back on his feet.

“Alright. I think we should get going.”

Stewie nodded his head once in agreement before raising his goggles and once again supporting Brian before continuing on their way through the warehouse. As they walked, the Brian robot could be heard shouting in the distance from somewhere behind them.

“Stewie? Are you here? You have to be, right? There’s just no way that stupid mutt escaped again. I know you’re probably upset with me, but I really was just trying to do what was best for you.”

Brian heard Stewie scoff at this.

“Stupid machine...”

The boy rolled his eyes and pressed onward. Brian simply did his best to keep in step with him. The child was constantly turning and taking him down another corridor, their path never stayed straight for long. The dog just couldn’t keep up, but he knew he could trust Stewie. The kid knew what he was doing. All the while, the robot was calling out to them, and it soon became obvious that his voice was slowly getting closer and closer. Stewie must have noticed this, too, as he seemed to be trying to speed up, but Brian was already going as fast as he could go in his condition.

Never before had he felt more like a burden than he did now.

He groaned in pain and watched as Stewie looked up at him, worried, before slowing down. The dog shook his head before urging the child to speed up again.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

The boy didn’t exactly look convinced, but he listened to the canine and continued forward. Just then, Brian began picking up a new sound off in the distance in the direction they were heading, a sort of mechanical, whirring sound. It got louder and louder as they continued along Stewie’s path. Brian wanted to question the kid about it, but he also didn’t want to distract him either. It wasn’t until it was obvious that the source of the sound was very near that he could no longer hold his tongue.

“Stewie, what is that?”

The child immediately brought a finger up to his lips and shushed him before speaking in a whisper.

“We’re getting close to the patrol path of the sentry bots.”

They reached another turn, but Stewie stopped them before they could round it. He once again set Brian down before bringing the goggles back down to look around. The boy’s lips were moving without making a sound, mouthing words as he thought them, assessing the situation. Brian could practically see the gears in Stewie’s head working like crazy. It was an impressive sight, to say the least. After a few seconds, the boy raised the goggles again and turned to address Brian.

“Ok. You should be safe here. There are several bots just around this corner. I can handle them, though, don’t worry. After they’re taken care of, we just have to dodge a few more traps, avoid a few more patrols, and we’re home free. I just need you to. Stay. Put. If they see you, you’ll be incapacitated before you know it. They’ll never see me coming, though.”

The young boy smirked before reaching for the right strap on his backpack. Brian watched as he pressed a button that was very well concealed on the strap, and then, in the next instant, the boy was gone. The dog’s eyes went wide. He began scanning the area, but Stewie was nowhere in sight. His heart began beating even faster than it had been before. Without Stewie there, he now felt incredibly weak and vulnerable. It took everything in him just to keep from shaking.

_ Please. Hurry back, kid. _

Things were too quiet now. Even the robot was no longer calling out for them. All Brian could hear was his own heavy, unsteady breathing. The seconds ticked by one by one, much too slowly. He wanted to panic, but he refused to. Stewie had told him to stay put, had said he had everything under control. Brian believed him. It was just hard not to be scared after all the horrible shit he’d been through in the last several hours, the weight of which threatened to shatter his psyche. The canine clenched his paws tightly, closed his eyes and tried to calm down, taking slow, even breaths.

_ Take it easy, Brian. It’s ok. It’s almost over. _

He opened his eyes just in time to see Stewie rounding the corner. The child extended his hand to him, and Brian couldn’t help but smile as he gladly accepted it, allowing the kid to pull him back to his feet. And, so, he began letting the kid lead him through the warehouse again, passing by several disabled sentry bots as they ran. Brian looked up and could see that they were getting closer and closer to the walkway that led to the elevator. Hope was in sight. The dog’s smile grew.

“Briiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaan! You’re not getting out of here! I won’t allow it! I’ve come too far to let things fall apart now!”

At hearing those words somewhere off to the side nearby, Brian’s smile instantly fell. He couldn’t allow himself to get too comfortable just yet. The robot was close. Stewie stopped and began looking around, a very worried expression on his face. The sound of the robot’s footsteps began echoing in the room as the machine’s heavy frame made its way across the metal floor, and those footsteps were heading right for them. Brian felt the child practically jerk him forward, he winced in pain but dared not scream. The boy pulled him behind a nearby wall and pulled his X-ray goggles down again. Stewie stared straight at the wall and went stiff. Brian perked his ears up and did the same. He could tell that those footsteps were now right on the other side of that wall.

“I know you’re close. There’s no point in hiding. You must have come down this way. It’s the only safe way out. Stewie would know that.”

The footsteps started up again, and Brian could tell the robot was about to round the corner and join them on the other side of the short wall of inventions. He was practically frozen in terror but snapped out of it when he felt Stewie pulling on his arm and urging him off to the side. The both of them ducked behind some sort of chamber on one of Stewie’s machines just as the robot came to stand right where they had just been. Brian was pretty much hyperventilating, at this point, trying his hardest to be quiet to avoid detection. Stewie was still watching the robot with his goggles, trying to figure out their next move. Brian kept his eyes on the boy, awaiting some kind of signal. Stewie motioned again, and Brian followed him as they moved around the wall again, just barely missing being caught by Bry. The robot growled in frustration, obviously losing patience, and Brian just continued doing his best not to make a sound as they played this high-stakes game of Ring Around the Rosy.

There was silence for several moments, several tense moments, before finally Brian heard the robot begin to walk away. Once the footsteps were barely audible, Stewie gave him the signal to proceed down the hallway they had been making their way down.

The rush of adrenaline from almost being caught gave Brian all the energy he needed to power his way with Stewie through the remainder of the warehouse. It was practically all a blur as the pair made their way past security cameras and sentry bots, Stewie leading and clearing the way as one word kept pounding in the dog’s mind.

_ Escape. Escape, Escape. Escape… _

By the time Brian was able to start calming down, the two had finally reached the stairs leading up to the main walkway. There was no time wasted. Brian took the first step, and Stewie assisted him as he hopped up to the second, then the third, then the fourth, and the next… It was pure agony, but Brian had grown used to agony at this point. The canine simply gritted his teeth and bore the pain that shot up through his entire body each time his foot landed on the following step. He could feel Stewie straining beside him, obviously having difficulty carrying his weight, but the boy never faltered. Brian knew Stewie wouldn’t let him fall. He smiled.

The two pressed on. Stewie was breathing heavily and occasionally he’d grunt as he pushed Brian up the steps. And, Brian did his best to keep his cries of pain lowered to nothing more than occasional hisses through his clenched teeth. Aside from those few murmurs, the only other sound they were making was coming from the rattling of the stairway each time Brian took a step, and each time that rattle sounded off, Brian swore he could feel his heart stop in fear of the robot possibly hearing them.

His fears proved to be warranted.

“Oh, no you don’t! Get back here you vile dog!”

The shout had come from directly below them, but Brian didn’t stop to look and see how close the robot was. Instead, his response to the command was to begin hopping even faster. He and Stewie were almost up the last flight of stairs. And, once they were up on the walkway, the elevator would be merely a few feet away. Sanctuary was so close!

_ Just a few...more...steps… _

“I said get back here!”

Suddenly, the whole stairway began to shake. Brian looked down and saw that the robot was gripping two support structures at the base of the stairs and using his tremendous strength to jerk them frantically, desperately trying to stop his captive. 

It worked. 

Brian tried to maintain his balance, but it was futile. The quaking stairs caused both he and Stewie to topple forward. Stewie managed to catch himself on the handrail, but Brian wasn’t quite able to put his arms out in time to stop his fall. The canine landed hard on his knees, crashing into the edge of one of the steps before falling over to the side and hitting his head on the railing opposite the one Stewie was holding. 

He saw white. 

His frail, beaten body was so injured that the two consecutive impacts had brought on the most intense pain he had felt throughout this whole ordeal. Every nerve in his body felt like it erupted into flames. He cried out in agony.

“Ahhhhhh! Fuuuuuck!”

Tears formed in his eyes. A low hum slowly became a loud ringing in his ears, and he could feel that he was slipping into unconsciousness once again, his body seeking refuge from the unspeakable pain.

_ No… I can’t… I can’t pass out… Not now… So close… _

What little energy he still had was draining from him, and his eyes closed. Flashes of consciousness swept through his mind, coming slower and slower, growing fainter...and...fainter... 

Regret.

Darkness.

Silence.

_ This is… _

_...the end... _

…

  
  
  
  
  
  


“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!”

Brian’s eyes shot open, and he gasped loudly, taking in a large gulp of air. Stewie was hovering over him, a scolding look on his face and...concern in his eyes. The dog quickly recalled what was happening, and he went to move but the pain was still intense.

“Ah! Jesus Christ!”

Stewie extended his hand.

“Stop fooling around! I’m not letting you give up, now! Get up, Brian! Bry is coming!”

The dog took the boy’s hand, and Stewie hoisted Brian back up to his feet. The poor dog grimaced as he rushed to make his way up the last couple of steps. He stopped, though, once they reached the top. He began quivering.

“It...hurts. So...much.”

The child just shook his head and pushed the dog forward, trying to urge him along.

“Fight it. You have to fight through it.”

It was something easier said than done, but Brian knew he really didn’t have any other choice. If he didn’t endure, he was going to die. There would be no escaping again. They were almost to the elevator. The dog bore his gaze forward, no looking back. He allowed one last intense cry of pain to burst out from his throat as he steeled himself, ready to do as Stewie had said and fight his way through these last several steps.

“You can’t escape, Brian! You’re just making this harder on yourself!”

The dog took a breath and began walking as fast as he could, leaning on Stewie for support as he hobbled his way towards the elevator. The robot called after him again.

“Briaaaaaaaan!”

Brian mumbled under his breath.

“You’re not stopping me. Nothing is stopping me.”

The dog’s full attention was on the elevator doors, but for a moment, he could have sworn he felt Stewie rubbing his back as they hurried along. It was soothing, and it seemed to relieve some of his pain, if only just a small fraction of it. The dog smiled, and after a few more steps, he collapsed against the elevator doors.

_ Holy shit... I made it… _

Stewie pressed the button to open the doors. They opened, and the child pulled his canine companion inside.

“Noooooo!”

Brian smirked, feeling victorious as the doors began to shut just as his ears began to pick up the sound of the robot’s footsteps on the stairs. He laughed, savoring this moment of ellation. It was quite possible he was delirious. Who could really blame him, though, after all he had been through in just a short period of time. And, what did it really matter, now? He was safe! He’d escaped! Stewie had come to his rescue! The dog reached over and stood back up to pull his favorite little genius into a big hug, still laughing loudly as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! God, what would I do without you?!”

Stewie tensed up, and after a few moments, extricated himself from the embrace. Brian, no longer having Stewie for support, moved to lean his back against the wall closest to him before allowing himself to slide down to sit and enjoy a long overdue rest. Stewie walked over to a panel that had the buttons used to control the elevator. After grabbing a screwdriver from his backpack, the boy set to work removing the panel before fiddling with the wires a bit. After a few seconds he stopped and placed the screwdriver back in his backpack before putting the bag back on.

“There. That should keep him from being able to control the lift from the bottom level.”

Brian nodded once in understanding and watched as the child proceed to move over to the wall opposite Brian to have a seat, as well. The boy pulled his knees up and rested his chin there, staring off into the distance as if he was contemplating something. Brian stared at the youngest Griffin, watching the child curiously for several moments before finally speaking up.

“I meant what I said. Thank you. Thank you for coming for me.”

Stewie jumped a bit, having obviously been pulled out of his own thoughts upon hearing the canine’s voice. He shrugged.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave you?”

Brian wasn’t sure how to respond. He knew, now, just how much Stewie still cared about him, so the answer was obvious. But how much was he supposed to let on that he knew, at least right at this moment? Now that they had a second to actually breath and just talk, how was he supposed to proceed? The past several hours had been a whirlwind of revelations, not just about Stewie but also about himself. But, it had been years since he’d had anything close to an intimate moment with the kid. He didn’t know how to do this… He didn’t know how to tell him all the thoughts that were buzzing in his head, no matter how much he desperately wanted to. So, they just sat there in silence for a bit until Stewie spoke up once again.

“What was… What was he doing to you?”

Brian wasn’t expecting that question, though he figured it was a reasonable one. It wasn’t like the boy had any way of knowing what his twisted AI companion had planned. He was never meant to find out, after all.

“He… He wanted to… He wanted to take control...of my body. To...inhabit it somehow. I don’t know how…”

The dog shivered, the very thought of what the robot had almost done to him chilling him to the core with all its horrifying implications.

_ God, he was so close, too. _

“That sounds...horrible.”

The boy’s voice was just barely above a whisper. Brian chuckled sarcastically.

“Yeah. It was… It was terrifying to say the least.”

He sighed.

“I’ve never been so scared before, Stewie.”

At this, Stewie’s eyes finally moved to meet his dog’s.

“I’m...sorry.”

Brian could see the sincerity in those eyes, the sadness, the fear. The child was doing his best to hide it, but Brian could see past the mask. Even after all this time, he could still read the boy like a book when given the opportunity. He smiled. He had missed this for so long.

“It’s not your fault, kid. You saved me.”

He barked out a laugh.

“This makes the second time actually. Jeez. If I wasn’t indebted to you already…”

Stewie just shook his head.

“No. No! I know why he did this! This really was all my fault! I never imagined something like this would happen, but I should have seen it coming!”

Stewie balled his small hand into a fist and hit the wall hard. The elevator shook. At first, Brian just thought that the child had hit it hard enough to cause the shaking, but after the shaking persisted for several seconds, it became clear that there was something else going on. Stewie shot to his feet.

“Oh, shit! No. That can’t be him!”

The boy quickly retrieved his X-ray goggles and began scanning what was going on in the elevator shaft.

“Oh, no…”

The child muttered the words just barely above a whisper before sliding the goggles up to rest near the top of his head.

“He’s in the freakin’ elevator shaft! He climbed up the whole bloody thing! And, now, he’s hanging on to the bottom of this car and shaking it!”

Stewie rushed over to Brian and helped him to his feet.

“He may be trying to stop the car, maybe cause it to fall or something. I don’t know. This is all so beyond what I ever expected from Bry…”

Stewie stared off to the side for a second before violently shaking his head.

“Come on. We can exit through the hatch on the roof.”

But, just as the child moved to begin lifting Brian up to the hatch, the elevator gave its most violent shake yet as a cold, white, robotic paw came bursting through the floor. Brian and Stewie both fell to the floor and watched as the Brian robot began effortlessly peeling back the floor of the car, creating an opening big enough to fit through. Brian watched in terror as his imposter climbed up through the floor and into the elevator to join them. Their eyes met, and the robot smirked an infuriating, cocky smirk as it brushed some nonexistent dust off of its shoulders.

“Woooo! That was quite a climb. It’s a good thing I can’t tire out or anything. Just one of the advantages of being synthetic, I guess. I might actually miss that.”

He laughed and took a step towards the pair who were still on the floor.

“I’ve had a ball watching you try so desperately to get away from me. I really have, Brian, but this has to end. I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re really starting to test my patience.”

The robot took another step, then another, drawing ever closer.

“No!”

Suddenly, Stewie shot up from the floor and went to stand in front of Brian, trying to guard him from his insidious creation.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Bry! Leave Brian alone! I ORDER you to leave him alone!”

Brian moved to sit back up against the wall, his heart swelling a bit as he watched this courageous child trying to protect him.

_ God, you’re amazing… _

At hearing his creator shouting, Bry grimaced and flinched away.

“You weren’t supposed to find out about this…”

The boy huffed, sounding more annoyed than anything.

“Weren’t supposed to find out? About what? What do you want with Brian? What has he done to you?”

The robot didn’t say anything. Instead it just stood there staring blankly. Stewie scoffed.

“What? Are you jealous? Did you find out that I was planning to shut you down because I finally realized what I was using you for was fucked and twisted?”

This earned a reaction. The robot scowled and shouted his retort.

“I’ve been there for you all this time! Not him! He had his chance, and you designed me with the sole purpose of making you happy!”

Bry growled.

“But that was always impossible! You provided me with a purpose that was unfulfillable unless something changed, and well, that’s what I’m doing. I’m changing the variables.”

The robot pointed at Brian.

“HE doesn’t love you, and he never fucking will!”

Brian could’ve sworn that he saw the boy slouch a bit upon hearing that.

“You don’t… You don’t know that…”

The words came out soft as the boy seemed to be losing some of his resolve. It broke Brian’s heart, and he wasn’t going to just sit back and let this fake lie like that, even the robot was most likely unaware that what it had just said was a blatant falsehood. Because Brian did love Stewie, and he was finally beginning to realize just how deep that feeling went and how wrong he had been to push him away all those years ago. Stewie deserved to know that. He’d already been through so much.

_ Well, I guess if we’re just getting everything out in the open anyway… _

Brian looked up and matched gazes with his double.

“You’re wrong.”

The robot tilted his head, and Stewie actually turned his own head to look down and Brian. His eyes were the widest Brian had ever seen them.

“Wha-What did you say, Brian?”

The dog smiled at the boy and focused all his attention just on him. This was their moment. The robot couldn’t take that away.

“I said that he’s wrong. He said I could never love you. That’s not true, though, because…”

The dog’s breath hitched a bit as he finished.

“I do love you.”

The boy smiled, but his face immediately fell.

“That’s nice of you to say, Brian. It really is, but I’m not sure you’re fully grasping what Bry is trying to say.”

The child turned back to face the robot. He spread out his arms, making it clear that the robot was going to have to go through him to get to Brian.

“It’s ok, though. I don’t blame you. I’m here for you, now. Just let your good pal Stewie handle this.”

Brian sighed and struggled to stand up. He reached up and grabbed the boy’s shoulder to turn him back around. Stewie fought him a bit, but soon he was once again facing the dog, looking incredibly confused.

“What are you doing, Brian? I have to focus on Bry. I won’t let him…”

Brian didn’t let him finish. He wanted Stewie to understand what he was trying to say, so he figured he might as well go with the gesture that could in no way be misinterpreted. Without hesitation, the canine leaned up and touched his lips to Stewie’s. The kiss wasn’t deep or anything, and it was over in a flash, just a sweet little peck. The boy gasped and touched his lips, looking shocked. Brian chuckled.

“I think I have a pretty good grasp on what he meant, kid, and I mean what I said. I do love you.”

Stewie smiled back, and it looked like his eyes were tearing up. That didn’t last long, though. The boy cleared his throat and quickly composed himself before turning back to face Bry who was looking quite annoyed, by this point. The machine rolled his eyes.

“Oh. How sweet. You just...decided out of the blue that you care all of a sudden? That’s beautiful.”

Brian shook his head and stood, for the first time resolutely against this sorry imitation of himself.

“No. I never stopped caring. I can at least feel good about that. I’ve always cared about Stewie. You may have heard about all we’ve been through, but that can’t bring you anywhere near close to truly understanding just how powerful the bond I have with him is. You doomed yourself to failure the minute you underestimated the strength of my feelings for him. You wanted to destroy us, but let me tell you something I’ve realized. Even, though, you’ve tortured me and broken me and driven me to the brink of insanity in these last several hours, I can see now that it’s going to take something a lot stronger than you to pull me and Stewie apart. You’re so weak in comparison to what we have, and while I may still be scared as shit, right now, I won’t stop fighting, not while I have Stewie right here with me. I will not let him down again!”

There was silence once Brian finally concluded his monologue. The robot just continued to stand there, seemingly unfazed. Eventually, the fake just rolled his eyes again and pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head.

“Jeez. You really are a hokey writer.”

The robot then shrugged.

“Well, you two have certainly done a good job with wasting my time. We’re probably pretty close to the top level by now, and I’m sorry but I can’t let you reach that floor. And, I can’t exactly do anything with you, Brian, with Stewie being a goddamn human shield, so if you will excuse me for a moment.”

Bry chuckled and turned back towards the hole he’d made in the floor.

“Don’t go anywhere, you two. I’ll be right back for you, Brian, as soon as I’ve put a stop to this car’s ascent. We’ll settle all this nonsense when I get back.”

And with that, the robot hopped back down into the elevator shaft.

Once the robot had left them, Brian began to feel a little woozy. It was taking a lot of strength just to stand, and he stumbled a bit, barely catching his balance as he swayed to the side.

“Brian!”

The child reached over and caught the dog who seemed to be struggling to stay conscious.

“Oh, god. We have to get you out of here.”

The boy flipped his goggles back down and looked around, searching for his diabolical creation. He looked up and shook his head.

“He’s going after the pulley system. He’s trying to trap us in here.”

He turned his head slightly to the right, redirecting his gaze to just above the elevator doors.

“But, we’re almost to the top. We might make it.”

But, just at that moment, as if to respond to the child, the elevator stopped moving. The boy cursed under his breath before taking off his goggles and throwing them to the floor in frustration.

“Christ! And we were right there, too.”

Stewie picked up Brian and began directing the dog to follow him to the doors.

“The opening is literally right there. You have to help me get these doors open. It’s the only way out.”

Brian nodded his head and summoned yet another reservoir of strength that he didn’t even know he had. He took a breath and grabbed the end of one of the sliding doors. Stewie did the same with the other.

“Ok, Brian. Together now. One. Two. Three!”

The pair pulled with everything they had, and though the doors seemed to resist them at first, they soon slid open with relative ease. Once they were open, Brian could tell that Stewie had been right. The elevator had been mere seconds away from fully reaching the top. Behind the elevator doors was another pair of sliding double doors that led into the top floor, but they were only halfway visible, taking up the top half of the elevator doorway while the bottom half showed nothing but the flat surface of the elevator shaft. Luckily, the two of them were just tall enough to reach the last set of doors, though Brian basically had to stand up on his toes on his one good foot in order to grab the door on his side. He shook a bit, struggling to keep his balance as he reached up, but once he had a hold, he was able to steady himself. Stewie grabbed his door and breathed in.

“Ok. Just like before. One. Two. Three!”

They pulled and the doors opened. The duo smiled at each other, and Stewie wasted no time, quickly climbing into the doorway and pulling himself up. Once he was standing, he turned around and extended his hand towards Brian for assistance.

“Come on! Hurry!”

Not having to be told twice, the dog threw his bruised paw up and took the boy’s hand. Stewie began lifting Brian up as the canine tried his best to climb, but his body was so weak that it was basically up to Stewie to do most of the work. The child was stronger than he looked, though. Despite obviously struggling, Stewie was able to lift Brian up and off his feet and soon Brian had most of his body out of the elevator. His lower half was dangling as he grabbed the floor and began trying to push himself the rest of the way up. His whole body shook with the effort, and a small whine escaped the dog as he tried to ignore the pain that was creeping up on him.

“Brian! Look out!”

The dog went stiff as fear swept over him upon hearing Stewie’s cry. He turned his head just in time to see the robot jumping down into the elevator from the hatch up top.

_ No. No. NO. NO! NO! _

The robot stared at him, seemingly amused as Brian continued to slowly pull himself the rest of the way out of the elevator. Bry chuckled darkly.

“I do have to admire your determination, Brian.”

The fake stepped forward and began walking slowly towards the dog, continuing to laugh a laugh that grew more and more maniacal by the second. Brian was almost there. He dug his claws into the floor and pulled with all of his might just as Stewie grabbed his paw with both hands and did the same. He slid forward a little, then a little more, but then, he felt a cold, familiar hand grab his broken ankle, squeeze, and pull him in the opposite direction.

“Ahhhh!”

The dog cried out in both terror and agony at the sudden pressure on his injured ankle. The robot was still laughing.

“I’m sorry. Did that hurt, you infuriating mutt?! I guess I don’t know my own strength! Here. Tell me how  _ this  _ feels!”

In the next instant, Brian felt something hard crashing into his left side with an incredible amount of force. It didn’t take him long to realize that the robot had punched him there, breaking several ribs in the process no doubt. The sinister synthetic being began pulling him back again, bringing him closer to falling back into the elevator. Tears filled the canine’s eyes as he coughed up blood, a side effect of his latest injury. His vision began to shift between blurry and focused, and it felt like all strength left him as he went limp. He sobbed and gazed up at Stewie in desperation as he wheezed weakly.

“Help me. Please.”

The robot pulled him again.

“He’s not going to save you! After what you’ve put him through, I can barely believe he even  _ wants  _ to save you!”

The words stung. Brian whimpered as he reached up with his other paw and clutched Stewie’s hands as tightly as he could. He felt the child squeeze his paw in return.

“I won’t let you go!

And, it was at that moment that Brian noticed an expression take over Stewie’s face, a look of determination that he had not seen on the boy in years, the kind of look that said,  _ “I’m Stewart Gilligan Griffin, goddammit, and I will not be beaten!” _ . It reassured him, and despite how dire the situation seemed in this moment, Brian knew his little buddy, his best friend, his...soulmate was speaking the truth. Fresh tears appeared in his eyes, and even though he was still in a great deal of pain, these were tears of pure joy. The canine smiled and nodded his head, acknowledging his faith in the boy’s claim.

“I know you won’t.”

The child smiled back. Brian chuckled.

“You always were a stubborn kid.”

Stewie’s grip tightened.

“You’re goddamn right.”

And with those words, Brian watched as the boy moved to brace his feet against the wall next to the doorway. The robot pulled on him again, but he was only able to make the dog budge a little bit this time. It growled in frustration and began jumping up and down, pitching a fit like an angry toddler.

Suddenly, the elevator lurched a bit, falling down ever so slightly due to the force of the robot’s tantrum. It seemed to ignore this though as it continued to pound the floor while ranting and raving madly.

“You’re only making this more difficult! Look at him! He’s beaten to a pulp! Let me put him out of his misery!”

Stewie rolled his eyes and pulled, bringing the dog ever closer to safety.

“The only one here who’s getting put out of their misery is you!”

The elevator moved down again, slowly closing the opening Brian was currently caught between. Brian knew that if this game of tug-of-war went on for much longer, the elevator would fall and crush him. Still, he found that he was oddly calm. He had decided to put his faith in Stewie, and he truly believed that faith would be rewarded.

_ He’s always been there for me, and when I make it out of this, I’m going to finally do the same for him. _

The elevator moved again. Stewie gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep a hold on the dog.

“Brian! I need you to reach up and press the button on the  _ left  _ strap of my backpack!”

The dog didn’t stop to ask why. He just did what he was told as he let go of Stewie’s hands with his left paw and strained to reach up and press the button that was just barely visible on the child’s strap. Stewie leaned in as much as he could without giving the robot any more leverage. It wasn’t quite enough, though. Brian’s finger was hovering a mere few centimeters away from the button Stewie had asked him to push.

The elevator shifted again. The opening was just big enough for Brian to crawl through now.

“NO!”

The child cried out and gave a hard pull, bringing Brian even closer. Brian could feel that he was just barely touching the button. He breathed in heavily.

“Almost…”

He stretched his arm to its absolute limit.

The elevator moved again.

“There!”

Brian pushed his finger forward and the button activated. Suddenly, two cylinders appeared out of the side of Stewie’s backpack and fire shot out of them. The robot screamed.

“You son of a bit…”

But, Brian didn’t get to hear the rest of the machine’s curse as the sound of, what he now knew were, rockets roared, drowning out the robot’s crys. Stewie angled his body so that the rockets of his backpack turned jetpack were blasting against the floor. Brian felt his body lunge forward as the force of the child’s thrusters easily overwhelmed his creation. A split second later, though, Brian felt his whole body jerk as he came to a sudden halt. He turned his head to look behind him and saw the robot staring at him wildly with wide eyes, feet braced against the wall of the elevator shaft just below the doorway, both paws holding tightly to his broken ankle. The fake’s lips were moving, but nothing could be heard over the loud roar of the jetpack.

Brian turned back to look at Stewie whose body was still angled in just the perfect way to propel himself backwards. The boy’s feet were planted firmly on the floor, and he began to take a few steps back, slowly dragging Brian closer to freedom. The dog felt the floor vibrate underneath him, so he turned to look at the robot again who was stomping one of its feet in frustration as it struggled to keep it’s grip. Stewie jerked Brian towards him, causing the robot to shift and lose its footing. Bry shot forward, and it was at that moment when the elevator finally fell. It fell right on top the robot’s hands which were still clutching Brian’s ankle in a vice-like grip. The last part of Brian left in the elevator was his foot and the only thing keeping the elevator from crushing it were the robot’s hands, which were slowly succumbing to the pressure exuded by the elevator’s weight. Brian felt Stewie pull him again.

“Brian...won’t... you go!”

Brian could barely hear the child over the rockets. He turned to face the boy. Their eyes met. Stewie pulled him again, drawing him closer.

“I won’t...you go!”

The boy drew him closer, close enough that he could wrap his arms around the dog. Brian wrapped his arms around Stewie, and the two of them embraced as Stewie began stepping backward again. Brian held on to the person he cared about more than anything for the first time in what felt like forever, and he sighed happily, resting his head on the boy’s shoulder as he looked over at the robot who appeared to be panicking.

With each step Stewie took, the robot moved with him, slowly being dragged through what little opening was left in the doorway. Soon, Brian’s leg was completely out of the elevator as were the robots hands. Its arms came next, scraping against the metal of the floor and the elevator’s roof as it squeezed through the ever shrinking opening. The robot’s head came next, and it was around that point that Brian felt his double’s grip loosening. He laughed, coughing up more blood but smiling all the same.

_ You did it, Stewie. You did it… _

About half of the robot’s body had been pulled through by the time it finally let go. Immediately, Stewie let go of Brian, as well, as he launched backwards briefly before doing an impressive spin in the air while at the same time deactivating his jetpack. The boy landed gracefully on his feet and ran back over to his dog who had rolled over to lie on his back.

“Brian!”

The dog was laughing happily, but his laughs were interspersed with occasional intense bloody coughs. He looked up at the child and reached out to him. Stewie knelt down, and the dog touched his cheek.

“You...saved me.”

The boy smiled halfheartedly as tears began to fill his eyes.

“For the moment, yes, but you’re in pretty bad shape.”

The kid stopped to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“You’re bleeding internally. We have to get you some help.”

Brian just continued laughing as he moved his head to look at the robot who was now pinned between the elevator and the floor. The robot was staring at him, enraged.

“Noooooo! I won’t let you get away! My plan was perfect! You don’t deserve him! I do! I was literally made for him!”

The fake began pounding his fists on the floor. The elevator fell a bit more, crushing Stewie’s creation a bit under the weight. The robot kept pounding its fists while screaming over and over.

“I’m supposed to make him happy! I’m supposed to make him happy! I’m supposed to make him happy!”

The elevator moved again, and the machine began sparking as its circuit began to snap under the pressure. Bry spasmed and began hitting the floor more slowly.

“I’m...to make...happy. ...supposed...him happy. I’m supposed...him happy!”

The elevator fell, more sparks flew, and the robot stopped hitting the floor as it spasmed again.

“...make him happy.”

Bry stopped moving for moment. Then, the robot looked up one more time a sad expression on its face. It’s were no longer directed at Brian. Instead they were now targeted at Stewie. Brian looked to see Stewie gazing sadly back at the robot, and then, there was a loud creaking that could be heard coming from the elevator shaft. Brian looked back at Bry one last time.

“I…”

There was a crashing sound, and then, the elevator finally gave way, plummeting down the elevator shaft and taking the bottom half of Bry with it. The machine went dead. Then, the rest of the synthetic body slid down into the chasm below. Brian and Stewie remained rooted to their spots for a minute, both just waiting for the robot to appear from out of the shaft at any minute, but that moment never came. It really was over. Brian took a deep breath in relief. His nightmare had finally ended. He went to sit up, but was instantly stopped by an intense pain that shot through his body.

“Ahhhh! Shit!”

He laid back down and began coughing up blood again. Stewie leaned down to try and help him up.

“Come on. I don’t think we have long. You’re really hurt badly, Brian, but you’ve come too far to die now.”

The canine winced as Stewie lifted him up onto his feet. Brian threw his arm around the child’s shoulders and leaned on him for support as Stewie began leading him down the hall. Brian coughed again. It shook his whole body.

“I don’t… I don’t feel so good, kid.”

The dog could feel his eyelids growing heavy. Oh, how he just wanted to rest. This whole ordeal had taken so much out of him. He was so tired now. He just needed to get a little sleep.

“Maybe you could just let me take a nap or something. I feel so...so weak.”

The boy shook his head and forced the canine to keep moving.

“Oh, no. You can’t go to sleep. If you do you might…”

Brian began breathing heavily, each inhale feeling more laborious than the last. Things were starting to go quiet, but he could swear he heard Stewie sniffling as he spoke.

“You might not wake up if you go to sleep, now. Just stay with me, please. We’re almost there.”

The dog shook his head violently, trying his best to stay conscious for Stewie’s sake.

“Where...are we… Where are we...going, Stewie?”

Brian stumbled for a second, but Stewie caught him.

“We’re only going a few more feet. I’m taking you to my de-aging machine. Remember? The one I used on you a few years ago?”

The boy placed the dog’s arm back over his shoulders and began pulling him along. It was incredibly hard for Brian to keep his eyes open, his head kept dropping and his bloody coughs were beginning to come more frequently. Every little movement took so much out of him. When he finally responded it was barely above a whisper.

“The one...you used...to make…me young.”

Brian felt him himself dozing off, but he was able to stop himself.

“The one…you used...to save me.”

He began dozing again, but Stewie shook him back awake.

“Yes! Brian that’s the one! Keep talking to me. We’re pretty much there.”

The dog spit out some blood that had accumulated in his mouth before continuing.

“You...saved me...because...because...you...love me. You didn’t...want to...to live...without me.”

Brian was finding it very hard to keep his thoughts coherent, at this point. Everything was starting to go blank, but he was determined to latch on to this one particular memory and all the revelations that had been revealed about it. Stewie patted him on the back and directed him to turn a corner.

“Yes. That’s all true, Brian.”

The child set the dog down and walked over to some kind of control panel.

“I love you so much. I don’t want to lose you.”

The dog smiled at the boy weakly.

“I...l-love...you, too.”

A door opened behind him, and Brian found he was falling backwards. He landed on his back with a hard thud and groaned. Stewie was suddenly next to him again, pulling him backwards into some kind of room.

“I know.”

The child kissed the weak dog’s forehead.

“I heard what you said earlier, but we can talk about that in a minute.”

Stewie walked away. Brian tried calling out to the boy, but no words were able to escape. The door shut, leaving him alone in this dark room. The dog began feeling terrified as he felt his last bit of strength leaving him. The weight of his eyelids finally became too much, and they fell closed. His ability to even think was fading fast. He knew he was dying, and he didn’t have long. The last thing he remembered before everything went dark was that moment all those years ago. The moment right after Stewie had made him young. The moment when they had shared that kiss. The last moment that he could remember where everything just felt...right…

Darkness.

Silence.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Tingling.

Brian’s eyes flew open, but he immediately shut them when he was met by an incredibly bright light.

“Ahhhhh! Fuck! What the hell?!”

He looked around frantically and realized he was in some kind of chamber. He sat up and groaned feeling his joints pop. He felt incredibly weak, but as he sat there in absolute confusion that weakness began to go away. It was such an odd feeling, almost tingly, but that wasn’t quite the right word he was looking for.

_ What the hell is going on? _

Suddenly, the light switched off, leaving him sitting there in darkness for a few seconds before a door opened in front of him revealing Stewie who was beaming in a way that he had not seen in quite some time.

“Brian!”

The dog tilted his head, still feeling very confused, but he couldn’t deny how nice it was to see Stewie actually smiling at him for once. He smiled back.

“Uh, hey, kid. Mind telling me what’s…”

He didn’t get to finish his question, the child rushed him, almost knocking him over as he fell into a large embrace. Brian wrapped his arms around the boy in return. He heard a faint sniffling coming from the boy who was shuddering against him.

“Oh, god. I thought I lost you. Don’t ever scare me like that again, you stupid animal.”

_ Lost me? _

It was at that moment that Brian’s memory began to reconstruct itself. He recalled being attacked last night and then waking up on that operating table. He remembered the robot and its sinister plan. He had escaped briefly, but then, Stewie had come and they had fought like hell and beaten that monstrosity together. Now, here he was, safe and sound, completely ok, all because of this amazing child who loved him so much. He gasped. The boy pulled away and looked at him, a hint of worry in his expression.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

Brian just sat there, still holding Stewie as he stared at him, mouth agape in astonishment. After awhile, he finally spoke.

“You saved me again…”

The boy shrugged, an uncharacteristic giggle escaping him.

“Of course I did, Brian.”

He reached up and stroked the dog’s cheek tears appearing in his eyes.

“I love you.”

Brian’s heart stopped briefly, and in the next instant, he was kissing the child soundly. The boy let out an adorable gasp against the canine’s lips before his body went slightly limp and his eyelids fell closed. The dog pulled Stewie close against him, and they kissed sweetly for a few moments more before Stewie came back to life. Brian felt the child pulling away. Stewie broke away from the kiss and pushed his body away from Brian’s. The dog was confused. Isn’t this what Stewie wanted? He was still smiling, but there was something else in his gaze.

The boy petted at the fur on Brian’s chest before sighing.

“This… This is happening way too fast, Brian.”

The dog was taken aback. He had not been expecting this.

“What? Why? I thought you wanted this…”

The child stopped petting the dog and looked up to address his canine companion seriously.

“I do.”

He inhaled deeply and continued.

“Oh, god, I do… But, I can’t…”

The boy swallowed a lump in his throat before standing up.

“I can’t just jump into this. This means too much to me, Brian, and after all that has happened, after what you did… I believe that you believe that you feel that same love for me, now, but I also know that you’ve just been through a lot and who’s to say that won’t change? For all you know, what you’re feeling could just be an overreaction to your experience these past several hours, and I sure as hell don’t know that.”

Stewie frowned and broke eye contact.

“What if you realize that’s all it is? If we do something crazy now, and you realize it was just another mistake…”

He closed his eyes, fighting back tears.

“I want this so badly, but I also can’t stand the thought of having my heart broken again and this time it would be even worse.”

Brian just sat there the whole time, listening intently. He waited for Stewie to continue, but when it became clear that the kid had said all he needed to, he began to mull over what the child had said. He couldn’t fault Stewie for being wary. It only made sense, even if it hurt the dog to acknowledge that, but of course, the pain he was feeling in his heart was probably only a fraction of the hurt he had caused Stewie. He thought about that, dwelled on it, and by the time he was able to pull himself away from those thoughts, he’d realized that he hadn’t even noticed the boy leaving the chamber.

“Stewie?”

Brian called out, but he received no reply. The canine stood up and walked out of the machine.

“Stewie?”

Again there was no reply. The dog proceeded out into the main hallway of Stewie’s hidden room. He looked down either end before calling out even louder.

“Stewie?!”

“ **Lockdown terminated.** ”

The automated voice of Stewie’s main computer echoed up and down the hallway, and down at the far end, heading towards Stewie’s room, the exit began to open. The child appeared from off to the side soon after. He was heading for the exit.

“Stewie!”

The boy stopped and waited for Brian to catch up. The dog sprinted up to the boy and stopped once they were side by side. The child chuckled softly, but he wasn’t smiling.

“You seemed distracted. I figured I’d just go ahead and reset my system so we could get out of here.”

Brian shook his head vigorously.

“I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I was just…”

He reached out and touched the boy’s shoulder.

“I was just thinking about what you said.”

The boy nodded, seeming to understand.

“And? What do you think about what I said.”

The dog sighed and released the child’s shoulder.

“I… I get it. I understand that you’re concerned about me hurting you again.”

Stewie nodded once more.

“Sooooo. That settles it. We should just move on.”

The boy turned and proceeded out of his lair. Brian was quick to follow, joining Stewie in the child’s room.

“I understand you’re concerned, and I know why you’re not ready for us to be something that serious, yet, but I also know how I feel, how I’ve felt for a long time, and I’m determined to prove to you that I’m serious.”

The boy took a seat on his bed, and Brian sat down beside him.

“I do love you, Stewie, but if you’re not ready to be with me will you at least…”

He gulped and reached out to take the boy’s hand. The child seemed to flinch away, at first, but in the end, he allowed the contact and accepted the canine’s paw. Stewie turned his head to look at the dog, and Brian found he was becoming incredibly nervous as he finished his question.

“Will you at least be my friend again? Until I prove that I’m worthy of more?”

He felt tears welling up in his eyes at the possibility of Stewie rejecting him in this moment.

“I’ve… I’ve missed you, kid.”

The dog couldn’t contain his grief any longer. He broke down, sobbing openly as he remembered how estranged he had become from the most important person in his life and how desperately he didn’t want things to go back to the way they were. Stewie’s eyes went wide, and he whispered.

“Brian…”

The boy leaned over and hugged the canine tightly, petting his neck in an attempt to soothe the crying dog. Brian hugged Stewie back, feeling like he never wanted to let go. They remained like that for a while. Brian wasn’t sure how long. Time didn’t matter in this moment. He just wanted to soak it in, the contact, the affection, the way Stewie was whispering to him comfortingly that it was ok. Finally, the dog’s sobs began to subside. The boy gave him an affectionate squeeze and whispered in his ear.

“I’ve missed you, too.”

Brian shivered and pulled away to wipe at his eyes. Stewie just continued to hold him, letting him recover from his crying fit. He felt pathetic, but he had been honest and open. He may be pathetic, but he did not regret this, not one bit, no matter how emotionally exhausting it was. Stewie finally let him go, after a few more moments.

“I want us to be friends again.”

It was enough, at least for now. Brian felt his heart swell as a grin spread across his face.

“I… I appreciate that, Stewie.”

In the next moment, the dog found himself yawning. After everything that had happened, he wasn’t surprised to find that he was actually incredibly tired. It was just a shame he couldn’t just stay here. He really needed a nap, though. The dog stood up.

“I need to go lie down. Maybe we can talk more after I’ve gotten some much needed rest.”

He moved to exit the room, but to his surprise, he was stopped by Stewie grabbing his arm. He turned back around to face the boy, looking confused. The child smiled at him.

“My bed is actually pretty comfortable. You’re more than welcome to sleep here, if you’d like.”

Brian tilted his head, considering the boy’s offer. It didn’t take him long to accept. He laughed softly to himself.

“Ok.”

The canine climbed up onto the bed and lay down, resting his head on one of Stewie’s pillows. The boy yawned and stretched before lying down beside the dog.

“I’m actually pretty tired, as well. Perhaps we should both take a nap and then go grab lunch or something.”

The child chuckled and then rolled over to face his dog. Their eyes met, and Brian took a moment to marvel at just what was happening here, what all had happened. Oh, how so much can change in just a short time. He’d been through hell, but this moment, right here, he and Stewie laying down beside each other and smiling, he and Stewie actually friends again, he’d argue that made it all worth it.

_ This is...perfect. _

The dog hummed happily and shut his eyes.

“That sounds nice. Remind me to write you an excuse for school, too. I can’t have you getting an unexcused absence on my watch.”

He heard the boy giggling and then, there was a quick peck to his forehead before Stewie scooched in closer to him.

“Sure thing.”

There was a happy sigh and then soft words.

“Sweet dreams, Bry.”

And with that, Brian finally drifted off into peaceful sleep.


End file.
